Rafaella and Bumblebee
by agdoll95
Summary: What if Raf was a girl, a little bit older and really Optimus Prime's daughter, born on Cybertron? Why would Optimus send his own daughter away and what if Raf developed a crush on Bumblebee from when they first met? What is with all these clues she has been receiving from her long lost mother?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Rafaella could never remember much of her birth parents. All she remembered was waking up in the arms of her soon to be adopted father. But she had to wait a while first.

Her experience in the foster care system was anything but happy. Her foster parents were falling apart and most of the time took their anger out on her. When the wife died, it got worse. Her foster father grew more cruel and abusive. It seemed that everything she did was wrong. If he even thought that she messed up he would beat her.

It was no wonder she only stayed there for only six months. Once she had the chance, she ran away and hid in the woods where she was found. The one who found her again was the same one who would soon be her adopted father. He found her and took her to the hospital because she looked pretty beat up. The doctors and nurses, including Raf's soon to be adopted mother, were a little baffled by what they found.

They found that she had wings her blood for some strange and disturbing reason was blue and seemed to hold amazing energy. All the doctors kept saying that they had to turn her into the science lab, but her soon to be adopted parents argued that she was just a child and should be given a chance at a normal life. But the doctors wouldn't be persuaded. They never got the chance to turn her in.

Angelica and Rodriguez Esquivel secretly checked her out of the hospital and packed up all they and their family had and left that night. They left Oklahoma behind and moved where they hoped that no one would find their new daughter. Jasper Nevada, this is where Raf grew up and this is where she would find who she really was.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Raf woke up from another nightmare. She could feel her body shaking and her breathing getting more and more irregular. It was the same one for the past three years, she was being held by a woman with golden wings putting her behind a strange door inside a wall. She's singing her a song. She closed the door and was gone the last thing she saw was a look of fear in the woman's eyes.

"What is wrong with me?" she questioned in the dark. Eventually her eyes grew heavy again and she fell asleep.

The next morning, Raf woke up and looked out her window. "Today's the day," she told herself. "Today is the day I am finally going to beat my record." She looked at the remote control car sitting on her dresser. She put in her backpack and headed for the kitchen. What welcomed her was a circus.

The Esquivels were one of those families that just couldn't turn any child away that needed a home. That is how she came to be part of their family. Though not everyone knew about her wings. The only ones who did know were her, her parents.

Raf snuck around the chaos and grabbed an apple, fig bar and a thermos with orange juice inside. Then she made her way to the front door and started walking to school. She had gotten about a block from her house when her Dad pulled up.

"Need a ride to school kiddo?" he asked with that same smile he had when she became part of their family.

"Yes. Thanks Dad." Raf answered climbing into his squad car.

Mr. Esquivel was the chief of police for Jasper Nevada and took great pride in his work. He viewed his job as more of keeping the peace, not going around arresting bad guys and stopping criminals in their tracks. But that didn't make him any less protective of his family, especially toward Rafaella. Though he couldn't give her as much attention as he could when she was younger, these times he could drive her to school were the times he loved spending with her the most. Because on the way, he and Raf would talk about all sorts of things and he would tell her jokes and stories about what life was like for him when he was a kid. Raf loved this time with her Dad too, but still couldn't wait to get her license and her own car.

"You know your birthday is coming up fast, honey. Any idea of what you want to do? You only turn 14 once." He asked as they got closer to the school.

"I haven't decided yet, but you'll be the first to know, I promise." Raf said climbing out of the car.

"Be home before dinner?"

"I will. I'm just going racing after school, trying to break my record."

"Alright. No speeding, understand?" Mr. Esquivel joked looking at her through his shades.

"Yes sir." Raf joked right back saluting him as if she were addressing any other officer.

She then ran into the school building and into her first class. Raf loved her first class because she was such a whiz at it. Computers came so easy to her, as did math, science, and art. It all came easy to her. Unfortunately, it didn't make her so popular with the other students. No she was always the one that got singled out with the bullies. But Raf didn't really care. She knew that she had bright future ahead of her if she applied herself to her work, which she did with a great desire to succeed.

Computer class was over and it was time for her least favorite class, gym. Rafaela was never so good in gym because she was the smallest of any of the kids there, given that she skipped a couple of grades. She was proud of this, but not so much of the fact that she was not so physically gifted.

This particular day, they had to climb the rope to the ceiling. Raf kept pushing herself to reach the top, but always ended up falling from the middle to the mats below and the laughing and jeers from her fellow class mates. Once everyone had gone, Raf ran as quick as she could to the lockers and changed back into her regular clothes.

"At least this day couldn't get any worse." She said to herself as she pulled on her sweater vest and grabbed her back pack heading off to her next class.

(Autobots)

Bumblebee was out patrolling for Energon again but was beginning to lose any hope of finding any out here.

'Not like it's any better back at base.' He thought to himself pushing on the accelerator. 'It's too quiet.'

Just as he was about to reach his limit, he heard his comlink come on. "Bumblebee, rendezvous back at base and prepare to Ground Bridge." He heard Optimus Prime order.

Bumblebee quickly turned around and raced for the base back in Jasper. He was really hoping for some action. He was no adrenaline junkie, but he was no coward either. He just hoped that he could get there in time. Optimus sounded pretty serious.

Once he got there, he and the other Autobots raced through the ground bridge to Cliffjumper's coordinates. It looked like they had missed the fight because not much remained except what was left of an Energon deposit. Bumblebee looked and saw Arcee holding something. He got a closer look and saw it was one of Cliffjumper's horns.

"No." he heard her whisper. Bumblebee understood how worried she might be. He was there the day she lost her first partner Tailgate. So losing another would be too devastating for her.

"Ratchet, can you track his position." Optimus Prime asked turning to the medic.

Ratchet looked at his scanner in time to see a weak signal fade. "No. Cliffjumper's life signal just went off line." Ratchet gasped turning toward the others.

Bumblebee looked at Arcee and could see signs of life leave her eyes. The feisty bot she had once been was now gone.

(Rafaella)

Rafaella ran as fast as she could to get out of the school building, hoping to avoid any one who loved to pick on her, especially Vince. No such luck. Vince caught her just outside the school doors and ripped her backpack off her.

"Where are you going half pint?" he sneered.

"None of your business." Raf shot back.

"Let's have a look then." Vince said opening her backpack and dumping everything out on to the ground. "Notebooks, pencils and what do we have here. A toy car, where are you going? Hoping to win the kiddie races?" he teased dropping the car to the ground.

"What I do in my time is none of your business." Rafaella said gathering her things and racing away.

(Autobots)

The Autobots stood on a cliff side not far from their base. "We must not allow our anger over the loss of Cliffjumper to impair our judgment." Optimus Prime announced. "As of today only we five Autobots remain and we owe to ourselves, to the memory of Cybertron, to any other Autobots out there seeking safe harbor, to human kind, to those who have fallen and we owe it to the memory of our fallen comrade to survive."

Bumblebee watched Arcee place the one piece of Cliffjumper that they had left on the ground in manner much like they would in a burial. Arcee then began to walk away.

"Arcee…" Optimus said to her.

"If Cliff's gone standing around here sulking won't bring him back. So unless anyone minds, I think I'll get back to protecting human kind." Arcee said transforming and driving off.

Bumblebee could tell she was in a lot of pain but she refused to show it. Just like when she lost Tailgate, she was starting to close herself off from feeling.

"Optimus, helping humans will only result in more tragedy." Ratchet stated.

"Your opinion is noted." Optimus acknowledged.

Everyone then went back to their routine patrols. They went in different directions, but they all had the same thing on their minds, they had just lost another team member and a close trusted friend.

(Rafaella)

Raf made her way to the ditch she usually spent her afternoons at racing her car. When she got there, she took the car and the controls out of her backpack. She sent it racing and sat down to watch. She was at it for a couple of hours when her cellphone rang.

It was her Mom. "Hey Momma. Racing. Right up the street. Okay just five more minutes." She then hung up and sped her car faster and faster almost making it back faster than she did last time.

But instead, she was interrupted by a motorcycle jumping over the highway guardrails and a boy she knew from school in the driver's seat. This came as a pretty big surprise to her since she didn't know anyone who would be crazy enough to do that. Surprised her enough that she didn't even realize she had dropped her controls.

"Whoa!" she breathed.

"You have no idea." The boy whose name was Jack responded.

They both the heard two more cars up on the highway then jump over the guardrails and transform into giant robots. They stepped back and saw the motorcycle Jack had been riding transform as well.

"This ends here 'cons." She said harshly.

Rafaella and Jack ran out of the way and saw this huge fight break loose in front of them.

"What are they?" Rafaella asked in total awe.

"Talking cars that turn into robots, or the other way around." Jack responded sounding like he was trying not to panic.

It looked like things were going well for the femmech until she took a shot to the chest. The other mechs started to walk toward her to finish the job when another car jumped over the highway just above them, transformed and landed on one of the other bots and punched the other one sending it flying across the ditch.

Rafaella stared at him for a minute and was shocked out of thoughts when she heard a crunch. The mech lifted his foot and they both saw that he had stepped on her car. He backed away a few steps.

"**Sorry about that.**" He apologized.

"It's okay really." Rafaella said accepting the apology. But just as she was ready tell him it was no big deal, a blast from one of the other bots sent him flying in the opposite direction.

He landed a short distance away and they looked like they were going to kill him. Rafaella felt something come over and she couldn't hold it in.

Her wings burst out her back. "Leave him alone!" she shouted.

The bots turned to face them. She felt all that energy leave her, but it was too late, both Jack and the bots had seen her with her wings out. "Please." She said weakly.

"Bad call." Jack said putting his hand on her back avoiding touching her wings.

They made a run for a large pipe and ran inside. Raf tried to fold her wings but she was too worried about the things that were chasing her and Jack. It reached in to grab them, but was pulled back by something. When it was gone, the face of the mech peered in.

"**You two okay?**" he asked, then stared at her in complete surprise.

"Thank you." Raf said as he turned back to the fight. "What are those things?" she asked turning to Jack.

"I don't know and I'm not sure I want to find out." Jack replied turning back around and running with her hand in his down the pipe to the other end just outside an old abandoned warehouse.

"Just as good a place as any to catch our breath." Jack said forcing the door open.

Once they were inside, Raf sat down and concentrated on getting her wings to fold back into her back.

"What I'd like to know is what are you? You have wings and you could understand that yellow robot."

"Couldn't you?" Raf asked a little shocked that he couldn't

"No all I heard was these bleeps and blurs. Why do you have wings, what are you?" Jack asked again in surprise.

"Truth, I don't know. My parents found me when I was only three years old and shortly afterward, I was adopted into their family. I have no memory of my birth parents or where I'm from." Raf explained folding her wings in. "We should head back. My parents are going to be wondering where I am. I promised my Dad I would be home in time for dinner."

"Okay. We're not far from the school. I could walk you home if you like." Jack offered.

"Okay." Raf accepted.

(Autobots)

Bumblebee still couldn't wrap his mind around what he had seen. The girl had wings. The last time had seen anything like her before it was the Guardians, the coexisting race back on Cybertron. But they were supposed to be extinct. But he could worry about that later. Right now he had to focus on the fight.

Things started to get hot when Bulkhead showed up. "Who's ready to rumble?" he asked.

The Decepticons drove away. Bumblebee let out a sigh of relief.

"What took you?" Arcee asked with slight annoyance in her voice.

"Traffic." Bulkhead responded.

"**You guys are never going to believe what I saw.**" Bumblebee interjected.

"What?" Arcee said turning to him.

"**One of the humans had wings in her back. I know we don't know that much about them, but I have been on Earth long enough to know that humans don't normally have wings.**" Bumblebee explained.

"Whoa." Bulkhead responded "Are you sure you weren't just seeing things?"

"**I'm sure. They only showed up when she saw the 'cons were going to kill me. I think, I think she's a Guardian.**" Bumblebee said.

"We can talk about this later. Right now we have to get back to base and report our scrimmage to Optimus." Arcee said turning and transforming and then driving down the road.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee followed close behind. When they got back to the base, Arcee told her story to Optimus. "And the 'cons would have been scrap metal if I had been distracted by the human."

"Human?" Optimus asked in surprise.

"**Two actually, a boy and a girl.**" Bumblebee said.

"A boy and a girl." Optimus acknowledged.

"The second one caught us in action, I don't know. Was a little busy at the time." Arcee finished.

"If the Decepticons are targeting us, any one perceived as our ally will be at grave risk." Optimus informed.

"**There's more to it. One of the humans, the girl, had wings in her back. But they only appeared when she saw the 'cons were going to kill me when they had me pinned down. I think she's a Guardian. I know that sounds crazy because the last of the Guardians disappeared a long time ago. I'm just telling you what I saw.**" Bumblebee explained.

"We must then bring her to us. If she is indeed a Guardian, she may not yet know of her power and will be in grave danger if the Decepticons ever find her. The boy as well." Optimus Prime instructed. "Bumblebee you will bring the girl. Arcee, you will bring the boy."

"**Yes sir.**" Bumblebee replied.

(Rafaella)

When Raf went to bed that night she wasn't sure if hiding what she had seen that day from her parents was a good idea.

"A lie by omission is still a lie." She scolded herself. "But what if knowing puts them in danger? I mean, I already know so I'm taking a big enough risk as it is knowing and I would never live with myself if I lost them." She then reasoned.

She laid down in bed ranting and reasoning to herself until she fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The next day, her Dad offered to drive her to school. While she accepted his invitation, she didn't do a lot of talking like she usually did.

"You alright kiddo? You're so quiet." Her Dad asked turning into the school parking lot.

"I'm fine, just have a lot on my mind at the moment." Raf answered. Not exactly lying but not being very honest either.

"Well, try not to come home late again." Her Dad asked.

"I'll try." Raf answered kissing her Dad and racing inside.

(Autobots)

Bumblebee and Arcee had just left to go bring the two children to the base. Optimus turned to Ratchet.

"You think it might be her, don't you?" Ratchet asked "That's why you want to bring the humans here."

"That is not the only reason. Even if it's not her, we cannot let the Decepticons get to them." Optimus answered. "But I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping it was her. It has been years since I last saw my daughter. The last time was when you and I placed in that pod to this planet."

"If it is indeed her your prayers, after all these years, have finally been answered." Ratchet offered as a comfort.

"Indeed, they have." Optimus replied.

(Rafaella)

Rafaella was still a little out of it during school even in her best classes. After last period, her teacher had to snap her out of it because she missed the bell when it rang. She walked out of the building and sat in front of the tree on campus. She had only been there a few minutes when Jack walked up to her.

"Hey Raf, let's say you and I keep this to ourselves and forget we ever saw anything yesterday." Jack proposed.

Raf was about to accept when she saw a familiar car pull up. "Jack." She quietly exclaimed.

"Oh no not again." Jack sighed in alarm.

The car opened its doors. "**I need you to get in, the girl, I mean.**"

"It wants us to get in." Jack figured.

"No just me." Raf replied.

"How do you know that?" Jack asked still in awe at how she understood it.

"It said so. Yours is over there." Raf explained pointing in the opposite direction in the parking lot.

Jack was about to stop her from getting in, but it was too late.

"How's it going?" she asked getting in the car as it sped off. "You know if my dad knew about this, he would kill me. He says I'm not supposed to get into a stranger's car, but he never said anything about getting into a giant transforming robot." Rafaella said kind of joking.

"**Sounds like your Dad knows what he's talking about.**" The car responded. "**I'm Bumblebee** **by the way.**"

"Rafaella. My name is Rafaella." Raf replied. "But most people just call me Raf."

"**So Raf, is your father like you?**" Bumblebee asked trying not to give too much away.

"No. He's not really my father, he's my adoptive father. My parents adopted me when I was three. I don't remember who my birth parents are." Raf replied fiddling with her book bag. Talking about her birth parents always made her feel a little uncomfortable because she wondered why her parents would just leave her in the middle of the woods.

"**Oh. I'm sorry if talking about this makes you uncomfortable. I was just wondering because I have been here for a while and I haven't seen any other humans like you. Do your adoptive parents know about your wings?**" Bumblebee asked.

"They know but other than that, no one else does, except for Jack who saw me with them yesterday. I'm sure he thinks I'm some sort of freak now." Raf replied feeling a little unsure of herself.

"**I'm sure he doesn't think that way about you. Because otherwise why would he have been with you when I picked you up?**" Bumblebee pointed out.

"I guess you're right. Where are we going?" Raf asked.

"**Optimus Prime asked me to bring you. He said it was important.**" Bumblebee explained as they left the city limits.

"It won't be long will it? I promised my parents I wouldn't be late like last night." Raf asked feeling a little anxious right now.

"**I honestly don't know. Maybe, but this has never happened before so there's no telling how long you may be here.**" Bumblebee explained. "**But don't worry. You're safe as long as you are with us. I'm sure I can get you home in time.**"

"Okay. As long as I'm home in time for dinner, my parents won't worry too much. Well maybe my Dad will, my Mom is often too busy with my other siblings to sometimes notice that I'm not there." Raf said feeling a little relieved

"**Siblings? There are more of you?**" Bumblebee asked in surprise.

"Adoptive siblings. As far as my parents know I was an only child when they found me." Raf explained. "How far away is it?"

"**Not much farther. Just inside that mountain.**"

"Inside the mountain?" Raf asked in surprise.

"**Yep.**"

They kept driving clear off the road and toward the mountain. Suddenly the wall of the mountain began to open and they drove in. They drive down a long corridor and into a large room. Raf was in awe at what she saw. Two other large robots. Bumblebee opened his door and let her climb out.

Raf stare and in awe at the new bots. She could find no words to say. Just as she was about to find her voice Jack and the motorcycle from yesterday pulled in with a new arrival, Miko Nakadai the foreign exchange student from Japan.

"I thought there were two?" One of the other mechs questioned.

"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply." The femmech replied sarcastically.

Raf tried say hello but lost her voice again when Miko ran up to the large green mech.

"I'm Miko. Who are you?" she asked her voice full of excitement.

"Bulkhead." He answered sounding unsure if he should answer.

"Are you a car? I bet you a truck, a monster truck. Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever use a wrecking ball for a punching bag?" she asked not waiting for answers.

Raf tried a more settle approach. "So if you guys are robots who made you?"

The red and white mech scoffed as if insulted. "Please."

Raf and her new friends turned to see another mech this one clearly the leader. His voice radiated with authority and fairness and concern.

"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. Also known as Autobots." He explained short but informative.

Jack was the first to step forward. "Why are you here?" he asked feeling a little less nervous.

"To protect your planet from the Decepticons."

"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night." The femmech explained in short term.

"Why are they here?"

The red and blue mech bent closer. "A fair question Jack. My guess is, they are here because our planet is currently inhabitable ravaged by centuries of civil war."

"Why were you fighting a war?" Raf asked finally finding her voice.

"Foremost over control of our world's supply of Energon, the fuel and life-blood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike."

Raf stared into his eyes and for some strange reason she thought that she could see the history in his eyes. She almost swore she could feel this connection with him.

"In the beginning I battled alongside one whom I considered a brother. But in war ideals can be corrupted and it was thus that Megatron lost his way."

Raf was lost in the story but was snapped out of it when she heard Miko speak up.

"Is there going to be a quiz?"

"So what does Megatron or any this have to do with us?" Jack asked again.

"Megatron has not been seen nor heard from for some time. But if his return is emanate as I fear, it could be catastrophic."

Raf suddenly got a really bad feeling that things were going to get real bad real soon. But she pushed it to the back of her mind. She already had too much to think about. Here she was in the base of giant alien robots, caught in the crossfire of a centuries old war with two of her class mates and now she had to keep it all a secret form her family. And she wasn't sure if she could do that because she had been raised to be honest and to tell the truth at all times. But this was something that she would have to keep secret for who knows how long.

The leader's voice shocked her from her thoughts again. "And since as of last night because you know of our existence, it very likely that the Decepticons know of yours as well. So it is vital that you three remain under our watch."

The red and white mech finally spoke again. "Optimus, with all due respect, the children are in as much danger here as anywhere."

"Children?" Jack scoffed.

"They have no protective shell if they get under foot they will go squish." The mech said taking a small step.

"Then for the time being Ratchet, we must watch where we step." Optimus reasoned.

Suddenly an alarm started to go off. "What is that?" Jack asked the nervousness returning to his voice.

"**It's the proximity sensor. It means someone's up top.**" Bumblebee explained.

"Proximity sensor, someone's up top." Raf translated.

"It's Agent Fowler." Ratchet answered.

"I thought we were the only humans who knew about you guys." Jack asked.

"Agent Fowler is our designated liaison. As he only intend to visit when there are issues. It is best that you three not meet him at this time." Optimus explained.

The three of them ran behind a wall and watched as the confrontation unfolded. "Seven wrecks, thirty-four fender-benders, a three hour traffic jam, and a particular note several reports of a speeding motorcycle of unknown making and a black and yellow custom muscle car. So anything you'd like to get off your tin chest Prime?" Fowler interrogated with distain in his voice.

"I assure you Agent Fowler, we have the situation under control." Optimus reassured.

"They're back aren't they?" Fowler asked.

"If you are referring to the Decepticons, I doubt they ever left. I am afraid your planet is far too valuable."

"Then maybe it's time to wake up the Pentagon."

"Hear me Agent Fowler, we are your best possibly your only defense against the Decepticon threat." Optimus pleaded.

"Says you." Fowler argued.

"Hey fleshy, did anybody get splattered on that freeway?" Bulkhead interjected. "Team Prime knows when to use force and how much to use." Bulkhead said demonstrating on what looked like a claw and crushing it.

"Bulkhead, I needed that." Ratchet cried clearly annoyed that his tool had been broken.

"Enough." Optimus spoke up. "Military involvement will only result in catastrophe." Optimus explained turning back to Agent Fowler. "Perhaps you can condone wide spread casualties Agent Fowler, I however cannot."

"Then do us both a favor, and handle this Prime, under the radar." He said turning toward the elevator. "Or I will." He warned as the door closed.

"Pretty big bearings, for a human." Bulkhead commented.

"Agent Fowler is only concerned for the safety of his planet Bulkhead, as he should be." Optimus explained.

An alarm started to go off again. "Blasted Earth tech. Cliffjumper's life signal popped back online." Ratchet ranted.

"Who's Cliffjumper?" Jack asked

"How is that possible?" Arcee asked with anticipation in her voice.

"It's not. Another bug, the system's chock full of them." Ratchet answered.

"If there's any chance Cliff's alive…"

"Ratchet prepare sick bay, we may need it." Optimus ordered.

"What can we do?" Miko asked eager to help.

"Remain with Ratchet." Optimus answered.

Miko groaned, so did Ratchet. Miko out of disappointment, Ratchet out of annoyance.

"Autobots, roll out." Optimus ordered as they drove through a portal and disappeared.

"Where'd they go?" Jack asked.

"I transported them to the designated coordinates via the ground bridge." Ratchet explained as if expecting them to understand.

"What's a ground bridge?" Raf asked.

"A scaled down version of space bridge technology. Since we currently don't possess the means or the Energon for intergalactic travel…" Ratchet explained stopping mid-sentence.

"You're stuck here, on Earth." Jack finished.

"With the likes of you yes. But I constructed the ground bridge to allow transportation from here to anywhere on your planet." Ratchet explained further.

"You mean I could just shoot on over and visit my parents in Tokyo?" Miko asked.

"Within moments." Ratchet answered. "In fact allow me to send you there now all three of you."

"Watch it Ratchet." Miko teased.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

(Autobots)

They made it through, but not quite the place they were expecting.

"An Energon mine." Bulkhead gasped.

"And judging by its scale, the Decepticons have been drilling here for some time." Optimus observed. "Now let's find Cliffjumper."

Bumblebee silently hoped they did. He was hoping because he didn't want Arcee to go through what she did with Tailgate. He didn't want her close herself off again. He knew Cliffjumper meant more to her than just a partner. He knew that she loved him, and she lost him, he didn't want to think about it.

They went deeper and deeper in. They came across the miners and were forced to engage them. Bumblebee felt pretty good holding his own against them, but it didn't feel the same without the whole team there. In fact it felt almost empty without Cliffjumper's chatter on the battlefield. But he was happy to see that even without Cliffjumper Arcee didn't lose her fighting spirit.

Once they made it through, they continued deeper in. They then came to an high opened cave filled with Energon and crawling with 'cons.

"Quite an operation." Bulkhead commented as an Energon blast barely missed him.

Blasts fired all across the chamber from both sides. Arcee looked frantically for her partner.

"Cliff." She cried. "I have a visual." She confirmed.

"We'll cover you, go!" Optimus ordered.

Bumblebee watched as Arcee raced to the top of the ledge where he could see Cliffjumper's body. He watched as Arcee grabbed his hand before he fell, and as he wrenched it out of hers. The last thing anyone saw of Cliffjumper was when he hit the ground and turned to dust. Everyone was devastated. But it didn't last long.

"Autobots," they turned to see Starscream standing on a platform. "I'd stick around but I'm squeamish." He sneered dropping a bomb far below. He then took off in a hurry.

The device started to beep faster and faster. "The joint's gonna blow!" Bulkhead called.

"Autobots roll out!" Optimus called out.

(Rafaella)

Everyone was so curious about the base, especially Miko. "What is this?"

"Broken don't it." Ratchet said turning back toward the computer. "Don't touch that either." He said not even turning his head. The computer then showed an error message pop up.

"So how come you guys are using human computers?" Rafaella asked.

"It certainly isn't by choice. It was handed down to us when we inherited this former missile silo. I make modifications as I see fit." Ratchet explained. Several more error messages popped up.

"I think I can fix that." Rafaella offered getting out her laptop.

"Really? You do know that this is complex technology don't you? I mean it isn't a child's toy." Ratchet said in disbelief.

"Now try it." Rafaella said after typing some security codes form her laptop.

The error messages all appeared to be fixed. Ratchet as admittedly a little baffled, but didn't have time to think about it.

"Ratchet, reopen the ground bridge now." Optimus ordered over the com-link.

Everyone made it back. But cut a little close with the explosion close behind them.

"Cutting it a bit close. What about Cliffjumper?" Ratchet asked.

Everyone hung their heads in despair. Miko was the first to speak. "What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can I come with next time?" she asked full of energy.

Arcee did not look amused. "Look…" she said, but Jack cut her off.

"Hey Miko, why don't we go see what the bots hide in their sock draws?" he said pulling Miko away. Rafaella stayed and listened. She couldn't help but feel so sorry for what Arcee said next.

"Arcee, what did you see?" Optimus asked.

"Not Cliff, at least, not anymore." She said sounding like she was about to cry. "He was mutated, butchered like something from one of those 'con experiments during the war." She said before dropping to her knees.

"**Are you okay?**" Bumblebee asked stepping closer.

"I'm fine, just dizzy." Arcee said stopping him.

"Robots who get dizzy?" said Miko.

"Robots with emotion." Said Raf.

"Robots, who can die." Jack finished.

Ratchet scanned Arcee and stopped at her hand. "What is this?" he asked in shock.

There was a purple goo on her hand. "Don't know. Cliff was covered in it, leaking it."

Ratchet scraped a sample off her hand. "Go take a decontamination bath, now."

"**Here, I'll help you.**" Bumblebee said helping her up.

Raf felt a wave of hurt wash over her. She didn't know why, but she felt jealous of Arcee. 'Does Bee like her?' she thought. But then she berated herself. 'Why should I care? If he likes her that's okay, I mean it's not like I like him or anything. I mean I barely even know him.' She scolded. But that didn't make her feel any better, because she knew she felt some kind of attachment to him.

Jack's voice interrupted her from her thoughts. "Optimus, I hate to bug, but no bars." He said holding up his cell phone.

"A security precaution. The silo walls isolate all radio waves."

"Well if I don't get home now I'm pretty sure the cops will be out looking for me."

"Have you broken the law?"

"Well it's passed curfew, it's after ten p.m."

Raf took this time to say something to get her mind off of her thoughts about Bee and Arcee. "Me too or the cops will be out looking for me too and I'm not kidding. My Dad will see to it."

"Earth customs I hadn't considered. But the issue of your safety remains." He then turned toward Bulkhead. "Bulkhead, accompany Miko home."

"Awesome. My host parents will freak." She said full of excitement.

"And maintain covert surveillance in vehicle form."

"Curbside duty, got it."

"Awe." Miko whined.

"Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf." Optimus ordered turning to Bumblebee.

Raf could almost swear she saw a smile on Bee's face. Without knowing she felt a smile crawl across hers.

"Ratchet,"

"Busy." Came the answer.

"Arcee, you'll accompany Jack."

"Still dizzy." She said feigning a swoon.

"You're fine says your physician." Ratchet deadpanned.

Bumblebee transformed and Raf climbed in. As they drove off, could feel a slight blush forming on her face.

"**Would your Dad really send the cops out to look for you?**" Bee asked.

"It's a pretty safe bet. Especially since my Dad is the chief of police." Raf said feeling a little embarrassed.

"**Whoa. So I guess it's a pretty big deal when he says be home on time and you're not home.**" Bee joked.

"Yeah, it kind of is. He and I have always been kind of close, but he is often too busy to hang out with me. So I usually spend my spare time out racing my RC car. The only time we get to spend together nowadays is when he drives me to school."

"**I'm sorry.**" Bee apologized.

"Don't be. It's pretty time consuming being the chief of police and a father to five adopted kids."

"**Five? No wonder you hardly get to spend time with him. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound disrespectful. It's just, if you need someone to hang out with, you could always hang out with me.**" Bee offered.

"Thanks, that would be great, as long as I am home before dinner. We usually eat around ten and we are all in bed by eleven." Raf explained and was secretly celebrating his offer though she couldn't understand why.

"**I can pick you up every day after school and we can go to that ditch we met at. You know without all the 'cons shooting and trying to kill us stuff.**" Bee said as they got closer to her house. "**If your parents ask you why you're late, just tell them you had tutoring after school. Works every time trust me.**"

"Thanks Bee. So see you tomorrow?" Raf asked blushing lightly.

"**Sure. That is my job, I am your guardian after all.**" Bee answered in a matter of fact joking tone.

Raf giggled and raced inside. As she suspected her parents did ask where she had been, but they did buy that she had tutoring after school and dismissed the problem without issue.

Raf went upstairs to her room and got ready for bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

(Autobots)

"How can you be so sure it's your daughter Optimus? The last time either one of us saw her was when she was a baby. Anything could have happen to her in the eleven years she's been gone." Ratchet asked.

"I feel it in my very spark. She looks just like her mother. Though I fear about approaching her with this, she has lived on this world all her life and may not be very open to finding out that she is not of this world." Optimus said dreading having to tell her.

"Optimus, even if she doesn't accept it, at the very least you'll know that your daughter is alive and well. She is safe as long as she stays with her guardian." Ratchet said offering peace of mind.

"Agreed old friend."

The com sub-link came online. "**Optimus, Raf and I made to her home safely.**"

"Excellent Bumblebee. Keep a close watch for any suspicious activity, and keep her and her family safe." Optimus ordered.

"**Yes sir.**" Bumblebee replied before signing off.

"He may not be the most experienced solider but he is good solider and good friend to have. Having Bumblebee as her guardian may be the best thing for her right now." Ratchet said.

"Indeed. Rafaella needs someone her own age to relate with at the moment." Optimus said turning to the hall that led to the entrance. "It is my turn for patrol, I'll return soon." He said transforming and driving off.

(Bumblebee)

Bee kept a close watch on all corners of the street to make sure no 'cons came in or out of the neighborhood. While he kept his visual his thoughts kept returning the fact that his friend had wings and could possibly be a Guardian. But his thoughts also returned frequently to when they would talk he would notice that her face would turn a slight shade of red. While he understood humans a little better than the others, he couldn't understand why her face would change color just by talking to him. All these things he kept in mind to ask her later.

He thought these things through to the morning and snapped out his thoughts when he saw her come out of her house. He started up his engines and opened his doors for her to climb in.

"**Ready?**" he buzzed.

"As I'll ever be. Where are we going?" Raf asked as she strapped herself in.

"**Not far. You know there are other things we can do besides race. I have a game system we can play of course you're probably not that interested but it's just a thought…**" Bumblebee explained.

"Are you kidding, I love videogames, I'm just that good at them and I thought that you were the one who wouldn't be interested." Raf exclaimed. "What kind of games do you have?"

"**Racing, Combat, trivia, Adventure, just take your pick.**" Bee said feeling like he more in common with her than he thought and happier about it.

"How about we start with the racing games and then we'll start from there." Raf said feeling brighter and happier that she might more in common with him.

Bumblebee turned on his engines and raced out into the desert. They stopped at a small ridge and Bumblebee switched on his gaming system. As predicted, the first thing they played was a racing game. Raf held her own for a decent amount of time, but in the end, Bee smoked her.

"Augh!" she cried out in defeat.

"**Yeah, got you!**" Bee cheered spinning his wheel.

"No fair Bumblebee, you've been driving a lot longer than I have." Raf giggled.

Bumblebee felt a strange wave of warmth come over him. He didn't know why, but he felt it had something to do with Raf. All the fun they had that morning, he still couldn't it out of his head that Raf may have been a Guardian from Cybertron. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

"**Hey Raf, have you ever thought that you might, you know, not be from this world?**" Bee asked uncomfortably, not sure if he should have even asked.

Raf stared at him for a minute, but finally answered when she found her voice. "There are times where I think that but then I just forget about it because even if I was an alien, I know I have a family here and that I wouldn't trade them for anything." Raf answered. "Why?"

"**It's just that, the first time I saw you, you had wings in your back and the last time I saw something like that was the last Guardian on my home world. But they all disappeared before the final days of the war, but that was years ago. The last one known was a baby girl that belonged to the Queen of the Guardians, her name was Jaderinica, the Queen I mean. They say her daughter's name meant hope, light, love, and healing in Cybertronian. But shortly after the Queen was killed her daughter disappeared. They say that she was killed too, but no one ever found a body. Others say that her mother hid her away on another world to keep her safe. But no one has been able to find her.**" Bumblebee explained.

"Whoa, okay too much information all at once. Who were the Guardians?" Raf asked feeling over whelmed.

"**They were the co-existing race back on Cybertron. They had wings and they're own special abilities. The one power that was always constant was the one that existed only among the royal family, more specifically the Queen. That power was the ability to heal. When a new princess is born the Queen passes that ability down to her when she is born. But no one knows if the last princess ever received it.**" Bumblebee said hopefully avoiding stepping into rough waters.

"I see. I'm sorry, I wish I could help, but I don't think I am this princess you're looking for. I flunk in gym, I'm a geek, I can't socialize with other students without getting nervous and I don't even remember my birth parents." Raf said sympathically. "I can't be a princess."

"**You don't have to be the best at everything to be a princess, if we were on Cybertron, everyone would want to be your friend, you're the smartest, friendliest girl I have ever met.**" Bumblebee said.

"Really?" Raf asked blushing.

"**Yeah. You're doing it again.**" Bumblebee said noticing the red in her cheeks.

"Doing what?" Raf asked.

"**That red thing with your face. Does that mean you're sick or something?**"

"No, it's called blushing. It's what happens when our bodies get really worked up, either through exercise, emotions, or heat."

"**Oh, so why are you blushing?**"

"Oh uh, I don't know. Can't get back to you on that?" Raf replied nervously.

(Rafaella)

Raf couldn't bring herself to tell Bumblebee why she was blushing, because she knew that they hardly even knew each other so to admit that she had a crush on him would be totally inappropriate. So she kept it to herself.

As they continued to play, they talked about other things and for Raf it felt good to have someone to talk to when her Dad wasn't there. Though she still felt guilty about having to lie to him and her Mom. But she knew that it was the only way to make sure they didn't get hurt. That was the reason she kept telling herself, but it didn't make it any less painful.

"**Something bothering you?**" Bumblebee asked as he won another race, noticing her discomfort.

"It's just that, me having to lie to my parents, it kind of makes me feel wrong. They trust me and I feel bad having to hide this from them." Raf replied fiddling with the controls.

"**I know this is hard, but remember if they know, they could be in danger, so for now it's best that they don't know.**" Bumblebee said offering comfort.

"I know but that doesn't make it any less painful knowing that I am lying to their faces." Raf replied.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Bumblebee changed the subject each time he saw that Raf was uncomfortable. All the while, they had a fun time playing videogames. Be proved he was pretty hard to beat, but he complimented saying Raf was a tough opponent.

After a couple of hours, they headed back to the base. Raf was starting to realize she felt comfortable being around Bee, and she was getting a subtle wave he felt the same way. But they kept it to themselves.

When they arrived at the base, Everyone else wasn't far behind. Everyone seemed like they had a good time, but it didn't last long.

"Autobots prepare to…" Optimus stopped short when he saw the children.

"Roll out?" Arcee guessed.

"Remain here. Ratchet, you're with me." Optimus said.

"Optimus, with all due respect, playing bodyguard is one thing baby-sitting's another." Arcee spoke up. "Besides Ratchet hasn't been in the field since the war." She said softly as if not to offend the medic.

"My pistons may be rusty but my hearing is as sharp as ever." Ratchet called.

"This mission is only reconnaissance." Optimus replied.

"Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?"

"Arcee much has changed in the last twenty-four hours. It is best that you three remain here to protect the children." Optimus replied. "You will be in charge until we return."

Rafaella was certain that she could feel Optimus's uneasiness as if she herself were feeling it. She didn't understand it but she was too nervous to ask about it with everyone there. She made a mental note to ask about it later when they got back. Then she remembered that she had sensed that he was lying about the mission he was taking with Ratchet. If this mission was causing him uneasiness. She thought that maybe he should have been taking the rest of the team, but she couldn't bring herself to say so.

The sound of the ground bridge starting up shook her from her thoughts. She watched as Optimus and Ratchet walked through and disappeared in the vortex. She found herself hoping that they would come back safely. She didn't know why, but she felt a very strong connection with Optimus, like she had seen him before, like she knew him. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she didn't let it bother her. Because, she knew that she could ask the questions later.

Arcee's voice brought her back to reality. "I'm going out on patrol, be you're with me." She ordered.

"Optimus said to stay here." Bulkhead reminded her.

"When you're in charge you can call the shots." She said as she drove off.

"So uh, what's on the activities list?" Bulkhead asked awkwardly.

Raf felt disappointed that Bumblebee had to go, but she didn't have time to think about it. Because a sharp electronic shriek sounded throughout the base.

"How about band practice?" Miko suggested plugging her guitar in.

"But we're not a band." Raf said covering her ears.

"Don't be so antisocial. Come on Raf, you play anything?" Miko asked.

"Uh, keyboard?" Raf answered pulling out her laptop.

"Laptop sound samples, awesome!" Miko said making Raf feel better about being one of those people who had to be good enough to get the best education instead of one of those who just wanted to have a good time.

"What about you Jack?" she asked turning to him.

"I sometimes mess around on the harmonica." He said quietly.

"Do I look like I do country? Just cover yourself in fake blood and jump around screaming." She instructed. "Bulkhead, percussion, we'll go for a big industrial sound." She said turning to Bulkhead. "DIY! We're a band." She said. "This one's a ballad, my fist your face." She said starting to strum her guitar which shrieked, groaned, and screamed so loud Raf was sure that her teeth were vibrating.

'This is going to be a long afternoon.' Raf thought as she tried to drone it out by covering and pressing down on her ears.

She was relieved when Bulkhead made her stop. Fowler was back. "Quick hide!" he said as they heard the elevator coming down.

Jack grabbed Raf's hand and dragged her behind Bulkhead's foot with Miko close behind still holding her guitar. Raf rubbed her ears to make the ringing stop so she could hear what was going on.

"Don't tell me, he's out pancaking a mini-mall." Was the first thing she heard when she got her hearing back. "Now I don't know what language you bots speak on your home world but Prime said that he'd handle the situation and blowing a giant crater in the middle of Nebraska is not what the 'handle' means in English. So you tell Prime…" Fowler yelled stopping short when he heard a sharp short screech. "Since when are you bots electric?" he asked as Raf turned white.

'Oh no, oh no, no.' Raf begged in her head as they stepped out from behind Bulkhead.

"Hey." Jack said casually.

"Contact with civilians! Team Prime has really gone off book this time. Wait don't tell me, you're running a daycare center." He said sarcastically.

"We're interns." Jack said obvious to Raf that he was trying to think fast to find an explanation.

"Student interns." Raf said sounding like she was trying to correct him.

"Earning extra credit in…" Jack tried explain but everyone said too many excuses all at once.

"Alright come with me. You're are going to be placed under government protection. It's for your own protection." He said stepping closer to them. But Bulkhead stepped in the way stopping him.

"We're protecting them." Bulkhead stated in a tougher authoritive tone.

Raf could almost swear that she could feel that he was doing it so he wouldn't lose Miko. Like he had feelings for her.

"Is that right?" Fowler retorted. "Well maybe you'd like to explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon." He said picking up the phone at the base of the stairs.

"Don't use that phone it's…" Bulkhead said crushing it. "…out of order."

"This isn't over Big-foot! Not by a long shot!" Fowler warned marching off.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

(Optimus)

Optimus and Ratchet scouted about the massive canyon. Optimus tried to focus on his mission but all his thoughts kept drifting back to Rafaella. No matter how much he tried he could get it out of his mind that Raf might be his long lost daughter. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Ratchet.

"Optimus, I do not wish to question you, but why have we come to this quadrant?" Ratchet asked across the foggy, lifeless terrain.

"Do you recall the period late in the war when both sides began hiding their Energon spoils off world?"

"Of course. It's the reason Energon deposits exist on planets such as this one."

"It is also the reason that battles came to be waged on planets such as this one. And this planet happens to be the battle site of the greatest Energon battle in history." Optimus explained as they came to a mass grave.

"By the All Spark." Ratchet gasped.

The sound of a jet flying overhead got both their attention. Said jet transformed into a form that both of them knew all too well.

"Megatron." Optimus gasped.

(Bumblebee)

Bumblebee's mind wasn't on the patrol, no matter how much he tried he couldn't get Rafaella out of his mind. Her smile, her laugh, but the thing that bothered him the most is that not only could she have possibly been a Guardian, but she also reminded him of his first love, Monarch.

The last he saw of her was when they were locked in battle over the space bridge and fighting to get through. She had pushed him through and destroyed the controls. The last thing he saw of her was her shouting she loved him and that she was sorry.

When he came through the other end of the vortex, he hoped that Monarch would come out after him, but a sharp pain in his spark chamber told him otherwise. The bond between them had been broken and he knew that she was gone. She had become one with the All Spark.

Bumblebee was shaken form his thoughts when Arcee suddenly stopped. "You're where? She's where?"

**"****What's going on?" **Bumblebee asked surprised at their sudden stop.

"Agent Fowler has been taken by 'cons, Bulk went to save him and Miko apparently snuck out and followed him." Arcee explained with irritation in her voice. "Jack, we need you to bridge us back." No answer. "Jack?" Still no answer. "Ugh, Bumblebee, metal to the petal." She said as they drove back to the base.

When they got there, they saw that everyone was gone and the ground bridge was still open.

"Let's go." Arcee said as she and Bumblebee raced through the vortex.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

(Rafaella)

Raf couldn't think of a time she was more terrified until now. They had just been taken prisoner by the Decpeticons and now were being taken to the brig.

'Why didn't I just stay behind?' she miserably.

She was shaken from her thoughts she heard blaster fire. She then became aware that she was airborne and falling right back down, but something caught her and Jack before they could make it to the ground.

"We appreciate you clearing the door for us, but storming the Decepticon ship was not on the activities list." Arcee said putting them down.

"Tell me about it." Jack said as of relieved to see her.

**"****Are you okay?" **Bee asked as has knelt beside Raf.

"I'm fine." She answered still feeling a little shaken.

Raf and Jack followed close behind Arcee and Bumblebee as they made their way through the halls. Arcee stopped and singled them to wait. She then turned sharply.

"Friendly." She stated.

"Hello." Came the reply.

Everyone came around the corner and saw Bulkhead and Miko safe.

"Brought the humans huh?" Arcee smirked.

"You try getting them to stay behind." Bulkhead argued.

The 'bots made their way through the warship keeping Raf and her friends close. Raf was terrified but didn't say anything. She never told anyone if she was scared. She felt that doing so showed weakness and she didn't want to endanger her and her friends by admitting that she was scared.

When they came to a room and the doors opened. The 'bots secured the room shot after shot downing each 'con. Raf felt better but she was still pretty terrified.

"Wait here." Arcee instructed after the room was secure.

**"****Why do they have to stay here?"** Bumblebee asked.

"They're slowing us down and they're easy targets. They'll be safe as long as they stay put." Arcee warned as she and the other 'bots left.

Raf wanted tell Bumblebee to be safe, but she couldn't find it in herself to open her mouth.

'Why is it that when we are alone but every time I try to talk to him when we are with the others I can't even open my mouth?' she asked herself.

"Whoa that was intense." Miko said shaking Raf from her thoughts.

"Was?" Raf replied startled.

"It's your fault that we're stuck in this intensity. What were you thinking Miko?" Jack scolded.

"Did I ask you to follow me?" Miko replied arguing.

Raf was starting to get that same feeling she got when things got bad at her place. But the others just kept going.

"You wanted us to be a band. Doesn't that usually mean playing together?"

"Well maybe this time I decided to go solo."

Well maybe I have some regard for your safety."

"Oh, I'm sorry is your name Optimus? You can leave my protection to Bulkhead thank you very much."

"Augggggh! Stop it both of you!" Raf shouted. She couldn't take it anymore.

This was reminding her too much of what happened to her while she was in foster care. It was a time she would have loved to forget, but he memories always came back to haunt her. She ran over to a large step and sat down laying her head on top of her knees. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes, but refused to let them fall. But she was afraid of the most was never seeing Bumblebee again. What if he was hurt or worse? She would lose the one friend she could talk to about anything.

"Hey Raf. It's going to be okay." Jack said in an attempt of comfort.

"Yeah, our 'bots are going to come back for us." Miko joined in.

"How do you know?" Raf asked sadly.

Jack and Miko didn't respond. 'That's what I thought.' Raf thought to herself.

"Hey Raf, what do you make of that?" Jack said getting Raf to look at the computer just over from where they were.

Raf got up to get a closer look. "It's important, Real important."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Bumblebee was putting up a good fight, but his mind was on something else.

'I hope Rafaella's okay.' He kept thinking to himself.

She was his friend, that's what he kept telling himself, but every time he saw her he felt hi spark flutter. Just like the way it felt whenever he and Monarch were together. Thinking of his first sparkmate made his spark ache.

'Why did you have to be so brave Monarch? It should have been me that day, not you.' He thought to himself.

But he snapped back when he heard blaster fire. He quickly starting firing his own shots and making his way to the brig with Arcee and Bulkhead.

'Please let us make it.' Bee thought as he and the others made it closer and closer.

(Optimus)

Optimus knew all too well why Megatron was there and he was not willing to let it happen. But it was already too late. Optimus watched helplessly as Megatron thrust an eerily glowing shard to the ground far below.

The ground erupted with the bodies of the dead. Autobot and Decepticon alike.

"Optimus, if our comrades are already deceased, how are we supposed to defeat them?" Ratchet asked as they watched in horror as the dead rose and staggered toward them.

(Rafaella)

"How do you know that's not just a recipe for space nachos?" Miko asked.

"I know math when I see it, and that is one serious equation." Raf replied in awe.

"Can you download it?" Jack asked quietly.

"I've got a flash drive but I don't see anywhere to plug it in. This tech is way alien." Raf said as they heard a door open.

The three of the raced to hide, but Raf turned back to grab her backpack. Big mistake, the next thing she knew there was a blaster pointed at her. She knew she had no other choice, she had to fly if she wanted to live to be fourteen.

She opened her wings and took to the air. And flew back to Jack and Miko. Jack just looked at her like he it was nothing new to him, mainly because he had seen her with them before, but Miko stared at her like she was looking at another alien, which in Raf's opinion, she was.

"Come on guys we have to run." Raf yelled as she took Jack's hand.

"Wait!" Miko called as she pulled free ad snapped a picture of the screen.

"Come on!" Raf called again.

The three of them ran as the door opened and they were surrounded outside the room. But not for long, the 'Bots showed up in the nick of time and pounded the 'Cons to scrap. Raf watched in awe as she watched Bumblebee down a 'Con, transform and offer her and Miko a ride. Everyone raced out of the ship and through their bridge back to base.

Once they were safe, Raf folded her wings and looked at everyone's expressions. She felt herself blush again, but his time it was from embarrassment.

"Yes, it's true. I have wings and I don't know why but I do." Raf said turning her head away to hide her embarrassment.

"**I told you, she had wings. I am sure she is a Guardian.**" Bee said turning to Arcee and Bulkhead.

"Yeah, I believe you now that I have seen her wings, but that does not prove she's a Guardian." Arcee said.

"Well I believe him." Bulkhead said putting his arm over Bumblebee's shoulder.

"Whoa, whoa. What's a Guardian?" Jack asked.

"Yeah and what makes you think Raf is one?" Miko asked as a follow up.

Just then the com-sub link came on.

"Arcee, we need a bridge, now." Came Optimus' voice.

"On it." Arcee answered. "We'll explain later." She said answering both their questions.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Optimus and Ratchet came through and Raf didn't know what had been the worst part of her day, being captured and almost killed by the con's or watching Ratchet come through looking more torn up than her RC car did when Bee stepped on it. She watched as Optimus welded a brace around Ratchet's arm.

'Why do I feel this way? Why I do feel so connected to Optimus? Have we met before?' Raf thought to herself.

She was snapped from her thoughts when she heard Miko's voice. "Zombies? You fought zombies and I missed it?" Miko said with jealousy in her voice.

Optimus seemed to not respond, instead he turned his attention to Bulkhead. "Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judgment in allowing the humans to accompany you."

"It won't happen again Optimus." Bulkhead promised.

"But it wasn't Bulkhead's fault. And check it out, recon." Miko said all perk again as if she had forgotten about the zombie thing.

Raf wasn't sure if she could understand Miko but right now I really didn't seem to matter. Because right now, Jack was giving Miko and earful.

"Miko, Raf was almost killed. This isn't a game, when are you going to get that through your think skull!" he yelled.

"Um, we were all almost killed Jack. You, me, Raf, even them." Miko retaliated.

"Well if this was just an average day with the Autobots then I don't want to be a part of it. Not anymore." Jack said backing off.

"Jack, putting you in harm's way was never our intent. However, we will respect your decision if you wish to leave." Optimus said sympathetically.

Presently the ground bridge started up. "No point in long good-byes. Here's the door." Ratchet said pointing out.

Jack started out then turned back to Raf. "Come on Raf." He said.

Raf considered it for a moment, but then remembered all the fun she had had with Bumblebee and how she would miss it if she left and all the questions she had that he and Optimus still hadn't answered. But she had almost been killed today and now the others knew about her wings.

"I'll be okay Jack. See you at school." She said trying to hide her fear.

Jack started down the steps and out the bridge. He stopped one more time, turning to Arcee.

"I know, you don't exist." He said walking out.

"Don't make me hunt you down." Arcee said watching him go.

Raf watched Jack leave and started to wonder if she had made the right choice. But then she remembered why she chose to come back that day. She had questions about if whether or not she was from their world, if they knew who she was and if she had a family before she came to Earth.

Raf thought about it for hours while the others explained to Miko about who the Guardians were and why Bee thought Raf might be one. Raf didn't say anything but she was starting to think that they were right. When it was time to go, Raf climbed inside Bee and they drove home in silence.

"**Are you okay Raf? You haven't said a word since Jack left.**" Bee asked as they drove closer to Jasper.

"I'm fine. I've just been thinking, have I been making all the right decisions lately, am I really a Guardian like you think I am and if I am, did I have a family before I came to Earth and how and why did I get here?" Raf explained looking up.

"**I'm sure you have made the decisions that you felt were right. As for your other three questions, maybe and I'm not really sure. But I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you find out. If you are one of them, you are one of the most amazing Guardians I have ever met.**" Bee said they drove up to her house.

Raf blushed again. "Thank you. And you are the most amazing friend I have ever had." Raf replied jumping out. "Promise you'll be right here when I come out tomorrow?"

"**Where else would I be? I am your guardian after all. Besides, you are the only thing that has given me something to look forward to every day.**" Bee answered closing his door.

"Thanks. See you tomorrow." Raf said running up to her house.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

(Optimus)

Optimus watched as Bumblebee and his daughter drive off to her house. He had missed so much of her growing up. He felt so happy to see her in good health and that she had been safe all these years.

"Optimus, these are schematics for Space –Time vortex generator." Ratchet called shaking Optimus from his thoughts.

"Megatron is building a space bridge, if he hasn't already." He deduced.

"The sooner he leaves the better." Bulkhead said walking in.

"Bulkhead, a space bridge runs in two directions. If Megatron waited all this time to return to Earth, I highly doubt he intends to use it to leave this planet, but rather to bring through his conquering army." Optimus explained darkly.

"The main event Megatron referred to. But the only place Megatron could possibly recruit that many fallen warriors…" Ratchet guessed, never finishing his sentence.

"Precisely Ratchet, Cybertron." Optimus replied darkly. "We cannot allow Megatron to send Dark Energon through his space bridge. If we fail, the dead of Cybertron will rise, swarm through its vortex and bend man kind to Megatron twisted will."

"But how are we going to stop him?" Arcee asked.

"A fair question Arcee. First, we must locate the space bridge." Optimus ordered.

"I'm on it." Ratchet said combing through the monitors for any sign of unusual activity.

"Bulkhead, you and Arcee…"

"Uh boss, she's already gone." Bulkhead said pointing out the door.

(Rafaella)

_"__It's going to be okay Honey. Just stay in this closet and no matter what, do not come out." A woman said looking at her as the woman closed the door._

_Raf could hear the sounds of a fight going on outside. She wanted to open the door and see what was going on, but she couldn't move. Finally, things quieted down and she heard voices._

_"__Now tell me, where is she? Where is your daughter?" she heard a harsh voice say form behind the door._

_"__I'll never tell you where my daughter is. I'd rather die than let the likes of you get your hands on her." She heard the woman say in strong determined and yet beat down voice._

_"__Very well."_

_Raf finally opened her door and peeked in. The last thing she saw was a huge blade piercing the woman and the woman gasping as the light left her eyes. Raf wanted o scream, but she covered her mouth and held it in._

_The blade was pulled out and all she could see of the one who had killed her was eyes piercing red and soulless with no sign of compassion or mercy in them._

Raf woke with a start. She could feel the sweat running down her face. 'Why do I keep having this dream? Who is that woman and what did they want with me?' she kept thinking to herself.

She laid her head back down on the pillow and fell back asleep.

She woke up to the sound of a revving engine. She quickly threw on her shirt, sweater vest, jeans and shoes. She grabbed her back pack and her glasses as she raced out the door.

"Yu know if you had revved your engine any louder you would have woken up my Dad and eh would have had you towed if he saw you." Raf said teasing as she strapped herself in.

"**Sorry, but when you didn't wake up I had to wake you up myself.**" Be said kind of laughing.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been sleeping well lately, mostly because of these nightmares I've been having for the past few weeks." Raf said as they drove out of her neighborhood.

"**What kind of nightmares?**" Be asked sounding concerned and very much interested.

"They all start the same way. This woman is putting me in a closet and telling me to not leave it no matter what. I hear this fight going on, then when it quiets down, I hear someone questioning her and when she refuses to tell him what he wants to know, I look and I watch him kill her. Then I look at him and the only thing I see is his eyes. Red, soulless, no mercy. Like they lost all sense of life." Raf said fiddling with her back pack straps.

"**I'm sorry. If I could help you with that, I would.**" Bee said sullenly.

"It's okay. They're just nightmares, it's probably nothing." Raf said trying to brush it off.

"**But what if they're not? Yu said you don't remember anything about your birth parents, maybe there is a reason that you were found in the woods all those years ago. Maybe your nightmares are trying to help you remember.**" Bee suggested.

"I don't know, maybe. Anyway, what is going on at base?" Raf asked trying to change the subject.

"**Optimus radioed me earlier. The schematics Miko managed to snap a picture of are for a Space-Time vortex generator. Optimus knows Megatron is planning to raise the dead of Cybertron and bring them here to conquer this planet for his own.**" Bee said as they drove out of Jasper toward the base.

"That is not good. How do we stop him?" Raf asked suddenly feeling very nervous.

"**First we have to locate the space bridge and Ratchet is already working on it. As for how we can stop him once we locate it, that part is still kind of in progress.**" Bee said knowing that it offered little comfort.

"Great." Raf said with a sigh.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Raf couldn't stop thinking about her dream last night or about how they were going to stop the Decepticons from bringing zombie 'cons through to Earth. Everything was spinning through her head and she felt dizzy just trying to find an answer to one. Mostly because she hadn't eaten that morning. She didn't have time to think about it because she snapped back when she heard the door open. She jumped out and tried to hide what she was feeling, but she was worried that she wasn't doing a very good job at it. But no one seemed to notice so she could sigh in relief, mentally at least.

As she was about to apologize to Bee for being so quiet when she heard Ratchet announce his find.

"Optimus, we have located the Decepticon space bridge, high in Earth's orbit."

"Out of our reach." Optimus said grimly.

"Okay so you guys don't fly. But can't you just ground bridge there?" Miko said snapping Raf to realize that she had been there.

"The ground bridge has limited range. Stretched all the way in to Earth's orbit it's vortex could snap and scatter us to the stars." Ratchet explained darkly.

"With Megatron mostly already in transit, I'm afraid we'll have to take that risk." Optimus said in a way that made Raf think that he was just as worried about it as the rest of the team. He was just as scared as they were.

They were all drawn to the sound of an engine coming down the hall. It was Arcee and Raf was glad to see that Jack was with her. He decided to come back.

"Hey, guess who's back?" he said nonchalantly.

"Autobots, prepare to roll out." Optimus ordered.

"Where to?" Arcee asked sounding more cheerful than she had been in the past couple of days.

"The final frontier." Miko said full of excitement.

"Space? I thought they didn't have any way to get there?" Jack said in question.

"They don't, really." Raf said as Bee set her down off his shoulder.

"Being seeing you?" Jack said looking up at Arcee. Arcee smiled back.

"Be careful Bee." Raf said as Bee started toward the bridge.

"**I will. I'll be back soon.**" He said as he readied for transport.

"Optimus, if you leave me stranded on this planet taming with humans I will never forgive you." Ratchet said in a way that made it difficult for Raf decipher if he was joking or if he was serious.

"Until we meet again old friend." Optimus said before charging through the ground bridge.

Raf felt her heart starting to race and her hands start to sweat. She hoped she would see Bee again but she found herself hoping that she would see Optimus again too. She didn't know why but she found herself rather attached to him even though she hadn't even really bonded with him like she had been with Bee the last couple of days. For some reason, she couldn't help but wonder if she had known Optimus from before.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Optimus speaking over the com-sub link.

"If Megatron went through the trouble of rendezvousing with his space bridge, he must have an alternate targeting system, a remote one." Optimus said over the communications.

Raf started looking for targeting systems that would be of use for the 'cons. Ratchet seemed to read her mind.

"From what I know about Earth's technology I doubt there exists a radio telescope dish powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron."

"How about a bunch of linked radio telescope dishes, like the giant size-a-ray in Texas?" Raf said finding what she was looking for.

"Zip, zip, zip this is not child's play." Ratchet said in an irritated tone.

"Good thinking Raf. Ratchet have Agent Fowler alert the a-ray staff to a security hazard." Optimus ordered.

Presently, Agent Fowler spoke up. "You soldier, you're out of uniform. Put on some pants." The he passed out on the gurney again.

"That maybe a challenge." Ratchet answered.

Raf set to work with her hacking. But she started encountering difficulties. "I can't get through the a-ray's fire walls. They're too thick." She said feeling defeated.

"You, actually think you could keep the Decepticons out?" Ratchet asked.

"Maybe, if I could get in." Raf said starting to feel a little better.

"Hey Raf what if we could get you all the way in, like inside the building in?" Jack asked.

"I could access their systems on the other side of the fire walls." Raf said in realization.

"Too dangerous. The Decepticons would no doubt be watching, most likely on sight." Optimus said in a tone that made Raf think that he didn't want her anywhere near this mission.

"Optimus, you said it yourself this is beyond just the safety of three children." Jack reasoned.

"Yeah, if we fail, we're fragged along with everyone else on this planet." Miko said speaking up.

"Raf?" Optimus asked.

"I want to give it a shot." Raf answered feeling confident that she knew what she could do and that she could do it right.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Raf felt her heart racing as she repeatedly directed the space bridge away from Cybertron. As she was doing it again for the umpteenth time, for just the split second, she thought she could see everything that was going on at the bridge. But she immediately found herself back at the computer undoing the connection.

"So what happens when the Decepticons realize their being punked?" Jack asked nervously.

"It's only virtual combat. You know like on-line gaming." Raf said as she turned back to the computer.

"Yeah Jack what are the 'cons going to do? They're probably like a thousand miles away." Miko said with a snicker.

Raf had the unsettling feeling that they were closer than they thought. But that didn't stop her from working on keeping the space bridge directed away from Cybertron. She could hear Jack and Miko fighting whatever it was. Out of the corner of her eye she could see it too.

"I won't let them lock on again." Raf said to calm her racing nerves.

After another minute, she saw a tentacle reaching for her. She typed one more sequence and grabbed the flash drive now downloaded with the schematics for the space bridge. She jumped over the table and ran to help her friends. She didn't know what she could do but it didn't really matter because as soon as she joined them, they were cornered by the tentacle who now had an axe.

"You handed it an axe?" Jack cried.

"Not good." Raf said feeling a sinking feeling.

Just when it looked like it was going to strike, it pulled back and went into the other room. They ran in and saw another 'con this one without a face, which really made Raf's skin crawl, taking off after snapping a picture of them.

"Why is he leaving?" Miko asked.

Raf got a closer look and saw the axe buried in the power-lines. "He cut the hardline. The dishes are locked onto Cybertron, for good." Raf answered darkly.

Jack called Ratchet for a ground bridge back to base. Raf walked through feeling like she had failed but she felt better when she heard Ratchet say he could help if he knew how the space bridge was engineered to help in Optimus's plan to blow up the space bridge.

"Would schematics help?" Raf said handing him the flash drive.

"Optimus, I must add that the space bridge is our sole hope of ever returning to Cybertron, are you certain that its destruction is the only option?" Ratchet asked.

"I'm afraid so old friend." Optimus answered gravely.

"Then by all means, let us light our darkest hour." Ratchet replied plugging the drive into the computer.

Raf, once again, thought she could see everything going on up there as if she were there. But again she was brought back to her own vision. As if someone was trying to keep her out of the fight.

But she had too much on her mind at the moment to care. She continued to talk Ratchet through her drive as he guided the other 'bots through their mission with the plan to blow up the space bridge. Once everything was said and done, Ratchet readied the ground bridge for transport.

Raf held her breath as they watched for the team to return. The first to walk through was Bulkhead and Miko ran to greet him. Raf thought she could sense a stronger bond between them but she didn't think much about it as they waited to see who would came through. The next to come through was Optimus. Raf felt a wave of relief but she held her breath again hoping to see Bumblebee. He came through next, but it wasn't a good sign. He was carrying Arcee who looked like she was in pretty bad shape.

"We lost one this week, by the All Spark don't let it be two." Ratchet prayed.

Raf watched as Jack walked up and placed his hand in Arcee's. Arcee slowly opened her eyes.

"Jack, really? There are other motorcycles in the world." She said weakly.

"But you're my first." Jack replied in a way that made Raf feel that he really liked her.

Arcee slowly got o her feet showing to be as strong as ever.

"And Megatron?" Ratchet asked.

"Not even he could survive ground zero." Optimus replied in a voice that Raf feel like he regretted what happened to him.

Raf couldn't really blame him. Like he had said, he and Megatron were like brothers until the war started. So maybe, Raf thought to herself, he wished he could have saved Megatron form himself and then hopefully they would be friends again. Raf knew that it was all wishful thinking from the beginning but she could feel this connection with him that she couldn't explain but she couldn't bring herself to ask why. Not right now.

Everyone was taken to the medical bay for repairs and then the 'bots took everyone home. Raf was happy that she had been able to help save the world, if not in the way she expected but in a small way. And she told Bee as much.

"**I'm sure your birth parents would be proud of you. I know I am.**" Bee replied as they drove closer to her house.

Raf felt herself blushing again for the hundredth time that week. "So I'll see you after school tomorrow?" Raf asked as they pulled up to her house.

"**You know you will. I'll be waiting for you just outside the door.**" Bee answered as he opened his door to let Raf out.

"See you tomorrow." Raf said as she ran for the front door.

Of course she had a lot of explaining to do to her parents about where she had been all day, but she managed to give them something that wouldn't draw attention to the fact that she may have been lying to them. Raf still felt guilty about having toile to them, but she knew it was for a good reason. If they knew about the Autobots or the Decepticons or even how dangerous it was, she didn't even want to think about what would happen to them. As she climbed into bed that night, she looked out her window and saw Bee sitting just outside the door.

"See you tomorrow Bee." She whispered to herself.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

(A week later: Bumblebee)

Bee could not remember the last time had so much fun helping someone he liked with a small project. But right now, he was just happy to help Raf with her volcano, until it blew its top. The smoke machine blew a fuse and the thing just went off like a small pipe bomb. Thank the All Spark it wasn't a bomb.

"Decepticons, we're under attack." Ratchet called as he and Optimus raced over.

"It's not an attack Ratchet, it's my volcano." Raf explained as the smoke cleared. Then main mount just collapsed. "Was." Raf said disappointed.

"What in the All Spark is going on?" Ratchet cried clearly sounding irritated.

"Our science projects are due tomorrow." Jack explained as he and Arcee were piecing together a junker motorcycle.

"You can't work on your projects in here. You're making a mess." Ratchet said in a tone that hinted to Raf that his was a weak argument.

"But these projects are a big part of our grade." Raf argued back.

Ratchet of course made some strong arguments but Optimus was there to back her up. Ratchet finally gave in and allowed the kids to work.

Bumblebee helped Raf start over with her project and told her stories about his times in battle on Cybertron.

"So how do you make warrior class?" Raf asked.

**"It's not so easy, Raf, you kind of have to earn it."** He explained.

"But I've seen you in action, you're awesome." Raf said as she brushed her hair out of her face.

"I couldn't agree more Rafaella, but Autobot lifecycles as well as Guardians are far longer than those of humans and though it may hard to believe, our young scout still has much to accomplish." Optimus explained putting his hand on Bee's shoulder.

Bee could see the way Raf looked at Optimus with admiration, like a daughter would her father.

"So, just what exactly were the Guardians and what happened to them?" Raf asked. Just before Optimus could answer the sensors started going off.

"Exposed Energon and it's on the move." Ratchet said calling everyone's attention.

"And since we ain't moving it, guess who must be." Bulkhead replied.

"Decepticons." Arcee said battle ready.

"I thought Megatron was toast." Jack asked.

"Unfortunately Megatron's legacy will live on as others rise to take his place." Optimus said darkly. "Autobots you have projects to complete, Ratchet I may require aid."

"Science is a big part of their grade, perhaps I should remain behind and supervise."

"Very Bumblebee, you'll come with me."

Raf suddenly very nervous, but this was the chance Bumblebee needed to prove himself as a warrior. So she kept her mouth shut and her opinions to herself. She watched and waved good bye as Optimus and Bee disappeared in the vortex.

"Right, so now how about letting me help you with that?" Ratchet asked as soon as they were gone.

"Sure." Raf answered feeling uncomfortable again. But she knew there was going to be no talking him out it so she just stepped back and allowed Ratchet to take a look at what he might be able to help with. Raf could already tell that this was going to be a very long afternoon and that this was really going to go bad in a hurry.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Bumblebee was thrilled to be on this mission with Optimus but got the uneasy feeling that they were going to be in for the fight of their lives. They continued on for a few miles and came across Starscream and Soundwave opening some sort of tomb.

"**This doesn't look good.**" Bumblebee chirped.

"No Bumblebee it does not. Wait here." Optimus ordered.

Bumblebee was still uneasy about this, but didn't want to disobey Optimus prime and stayed put. Bumblebee listened as his leader tried to reason with Starscream and the new 'con he had just unearthed, by the name of Skyquake. It didn't look like any of them were willing to listen. Once Skyquake opened fire on Optimus Bumblebee charged in.

"Bumblebee, no!" Optimus called.

Bumblebee opened fire against the 'con and lead him away. Optimus and Bee were holding their own, just barely but they were still alive and Bee considered that to be lucky enough. But Bee soon noticed something.

"**Why doesn't he just fly away?**"

"Skyquake has not acquired a vehicle mode." Optimus replied quietly.

Getting the idea, Bee and Optimus transformed and took off. They led the 'con down the gorge and managed to ambush him. But like all good things, a little rain must fall. Skyquake was down but not out. Agent Fowler flew and in doing so, he had provided Skyquake with a vehicle to scan.

Skyquake transformed and took off for the sky. Bumblebee wasn't ready to give up. He made his way up the cliff and made a leap for the airborne 'con. He reached him and with all his strength, rammed his fists in through Skyquake's armor. Bumblebee could see Skyquake was heading for the ground, fast. Fortunately, Agent Fowler was there to offer a ride.

Once he was safely on the ground, Bee met back up with Optimus near Skyquake's lifeless body.

"Had Skyquake chosen to stray from his master's path, we might not be burying him today." Optimus said gravely.

Bee could tell Optimus hoped to change Skyquake's mind and that he felt very unhappy about how things turned out. Bee offered his hand in burying the 'con. Bee had mixed feelings about it, but he knew one thing, Skyquake may have been a 'con but he had a loyalty that was fitting for an Autobot and Bumblebee couldn't help but respect that.

Once they bridged back, both Bumblebee and Optimus could clearly see that Ratchet and the kids had been busy. Or Ratchet had been and made the kids keep their distance while he did their projects for them. And judging from how they turned out, Bumblebee only had to look at the uncomfortable look in Raf's eyes and could see that she already knew what her grade would be the next day.

But he never got the chance because he spent the next several hours through the night and to the afternoon under Ratchet's diagnostics and scans until he cleared.

"Bumblebee, putting yourself at risk was not the wisest option but you performed admirably." Optimus said as Bumblebee stepped out of the healer chamber.

They then all heard the kids and their partners pull in.

"Well, how were my, I mean, our projects received." Ratchet asked excitedly.

"Well…" Raf answered nervously.

They then went on to explain how they were luck that they weren't expelled. Ratchet didn't take it well and the kids could only stand there and wonder how they were going to explain that to their parents.

"Maybe it would have been wise if the kids had strayed from Ratchet's path." Bumblebee joked.

"Indeed Bumblebee, our human friends would have been wise to stray form Ratchet's path." Optimus answered in a way that almost made Bumblebee believe that he had almost actually laughed.

Bee and Raf spent the rest of the day telling each other about how Bee went up against Skyquake and how Raf basically blew the roof off the school, literally. Bumblebee found it pretty funny, and Raf looking back on it found it pretty humorous too. They made the trip back home when Raf got a call from her Dad that it was almost tie for her to come home.

"I am really going have to dig deep to explain to my parents how I managed to make a fake volcano that almost destroyed the school." Raf laughed as they drove up to her house.

"**Well, I'm sure your smart enough that they would buy anything you could think of.**" Bumblebee said as he noticed Raf started blushing again. "**I'm sorry, I mean, you well, I don't know what to say anymore.**" Bumblebee stammered.

"It's okay. You really think I'm smart?" Raf asked before Bee opened the door.

"**Yeah, you're one of the smartest girls I've ever met.**" Bee answered. "**I'll see you tomorrow?**"

"See you then." Raf said as she shut the door and walked in.

'What is wrong with me?' Bee asked to himself.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Rafaella did indeed easily evade her parents' questions about where she had been. But right now she had other things on her mind, like why she felt the way she did about Bumblebee. It was all so weird to her. She had never felt this way about anyone before. She was sure he didn't feel the same way, they were just friends. And yet Raf couldn't help but hope that they would someday be more than friends. But the she would slap herself and remind herself that it wouldn't work.

She got ready for bed and then went to bed blushing. "What's wrong with me?" she groaned.

_"Just stay in here sweet heart and everything will be alright. Don't come out, no matter what."_

_"Mommy, come back." Little Raf called out softly._

_She heard a crash and peeked out of the door._

_"Where is she, where is your daughter?"_

_"If you think I would sell out my daughter to save my own life, clearly Scraplets ate your circuits out long ago." The woman with the golden wings spat weakly._

_The large figure turned to the other one in the room. "Finish her."_

_The last thing little Raf saw was the woman being run through with a glowing blade._

Raf woke with a start. Her door opened and she saw her parents standing in her door way.

"Raf, honey, are you alright? We heard you yelling." Her Dad asked sitting on her bed.

"Yeah. I'm fine, it was just a bad dream." She answered her hands still shaking.

"Are you sure, you seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately." Her Mom asked rubbing her back.

"I'm sure. It's just a nightmare, I'm alright." Raf said hugging her parents before laying back down. "I'm sorry if I woke you. You can go back to bed now. I fine now, I promise."

"Well, alright. You know, we're right down the hall if you need anything. Love you Little Bird." Mom and Dad said as they left and shut the door.

"I love you too." Raf said before going back to sleep.

After they went back to bed, I tried to back to sleep, but I just couldn't. I tried counting sheep, thinking of all the things that made me tired. I even tried to sneak into the kitchen and have a glass of warm milk. Still, I didn't sleep one wink.

I left the house at around 7:30 the next morning and Bee could see how tired I was.

"**Are you alright? You look like you didn't sleep well.**" He asked as he drove to the school.

"I didn't. I was woken up by a nightmare and couldn't fall back asleep." I said rubbing my eyes from behind my glasses.

"**Well you know, you don't have to go to school today if you don't want to, you could just rest back at the base. I mean you do well enough in school any way, I'm sure you could afford to miss just one day.**" Bee offered slowing at a traffic light.

"I can't. If I don't go to school, my teachers will call my parents and I am running out of excuses of where I go in the afternoons." I said pulling my hair back in a ponytail. "I'll just have to muscle through it for today and hope that I can get to sleep tonight."

"**Well, okay, but after school, I'm taking you home. It would probably better for you to get some rest soon.**" Bee said as he pulled into the school's parking lot.

"Okay. Just promise me that you'll be there when I wake up." I said not realizing how pleading I was sounding.

"**I promise.**"

I smiled and then ran inside as fast as I could with how tired I was feeling. Of course it was pretty hard staying awake, but it was better than having to explain to her parents why I missed school.

'Just muscle through, grin and bear it.' I kept thinking to myself.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Bumblebee drove back to base but couldn't get his mind off of Raf. She said she just had a nightmare, but it looked like she hadn't slept at all last night. And he couldn't figure it out but something about her reminded him of his sparkmate Monarch. He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard a radio call from base.

"Bumblebee, I need you to stay at the school and keep watch for Decepticons." He heard Optimus's voice.

"**Understood Optimus.**" Bumblebee answered turning around.

He wasn't sure why Optimus would have stand guard at the school, usually the kids were safe at the school but as long he would be ready for when Raf came out, he couldn't complain and there was no way he was going to disobey Optimus.

He arrived at the school and parked where Raf would see him when she came out. Bumblebee did as he was told and kept a watch for any 'cons but still couldn't stop thinking about what might be bothering Raf. He hoped that she would tell him later when she was rested. Bee lost track of how long he had been there but got an idea when Arcee and Bulkhead showed up.

"**Hey, you guys here to pick up Jack and Miko?**"

"Yeah. And don't worry, we know Optimus asked you to keep watch." Arcee answered.

Suddenly the bell rang and kids came pouring out of the building. Jack and Miko were one of the last and Jack looked like he was helping Raf.

"Is Raf okay Jack?" Arcee asked as Jack helped Raf into Bee.

"She' fine, she just had a long day. She didn't really sleep well last night and had a hard time trying to stay awake. She's going to go home and get some rest. Hopefully she'll be feeling better by tomorrow." He explained as Bee closed his door.

"I guess we'll be seeing you later Bee." Bulkhead said as Bee prepared to leave.

"**Yeah, see you all later.**" Bee said as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove Raf home.

Raf dozed off once or twice before they pulled up to her house.

"**Are you sure you'll be alright?**" Bee asked as Raf gathered her stuff and stepped out.

"Yeah, like you said I'll probably feel better after I get some rest. I'll see you in the morning." She said walking up to the front door.

Bumblebee stayed all night like he promised, but he still couldn't help but think that something was really bothering Raf. But like he told himself earlier, he try and ask her later and see if she would tell him.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Raf had to admit, Bee was right, she did feel better after getting a day of rest. What bothered her was why she was having these nightmares in the first place. She was just happy today was Saturday and that today she and Bee cold have the whole day to themselves, hopefully. She said bye to her parents and explained that she was just going to a friend's house and that she promised not to stay out too late.

She and Bee spent a couple of hours in the desert playing the racing games she loved.

"**Hey Raf, can I ask you something?**" Bee asked after winning for like the hundredth time.

"What is it?"

"**About these nightmares, do they happen often? Do they seem like, all too real to you, like you had seen them before?**"

"Actually yes. They actually started a few days before I met you guys and they do seem all too familiar, like I had seen them before. They all end the same way, a woman with golden wings telling me to remain hidden and she dies protecting me." Raf explained putting down her controller as Bee prepared to leave for the base. "What do you think is wrong with me?"

"**I don't know. Maybe Ratchet will have an idea, he has dealt with guardians before. Maybe he can figure out what is wrong.**"

"Sounds like a plan." Raf said buckling in. "Maybe he will also know who the woman is and who my parents may have been before I came to Earth."

"**Maybe, but let's not get our hopes up too high on that.**" Be warned her.

"Yeah, you're right. Well first things first, we should figure what is happening to me first. We can figure who the woman is later." Raf said trying to keep her head from running in the wrong direction of thought. There would be plenty of time to figure out who she was and who her parents had been later.

Bumblebee put it in gear and drove for the base. By the time they got there Optimus and Arcee were preparing to bridge out. When Raf heard they were heading for the Arctic, she felt so excited.

"The Arctic, I've always wanted to see snow."

"I would invite you to join Rafaella, but the conditions are too extreme, even for we Autobots." Optimus explained.

"I understand." Raf replied feeling disappointed.

She felt a small link between her and Optimus again, like he wanted to take her, but he feared for her.

"But I will bring you back a snowball." Optimus said before leaving.

"That would be awesome." Raf said waving good bye.

With them gone, Raf saw her chance to talk to Ratchet, but he looked busy so she went to join the others. Bumblebee suggested a video game tournament, but he and Bulkhead were requested by Ratchet for assistance. Before she could grab her control, Miko offered it to Jack. She felt just the same as she did at home most of the time.

'Just like at home. I get left out of everything, like I'm not even here.' She thought to herself.

Jack offered her his place, but she really just wanted to be alone. She went into the hall and started to imagine her in the Arctic.

"Temperature subzero and dropping. Gotta get back to base." She pretended to groan.

There was a metallic clang and she looked but saw nothing. She was about to head back when she tripped over something. When she saw what it was, she was cute struck.

'Hey little fella, where did you come from?" she said grinning. It ran up to her and started jumping around playing with her. "The Autobots never said anything about pets." She said giggling as it ran around and through her legs.

She headed back for the main room with her adorable new friend close behind. It jumped into her arms and just fell asleep.

"Hey guys, look what I found." She called getting the others attention.

"We're busy." Ratchet started to say but then everybody started to freak out.

The bots backed up and pulled their weapons and Jack and Miko stood in front of Raf.

"Hey, hey, What's with you guys?" Miko asked frightened.

"Scraplet, Scraplet!" Bulkhead yelled.

"What's a Scraplet?" Raf asked feeling very nervous right now.

"The most dangerous vermin every to crawl upon the face of Cybertron." Ratchet answered.

Jack, Raf and Miko stared in disbelief. Raf started to feel very nervous, if the bots were afraid of it, then it must have been dangerous, but she still found it pretty hard to believe that something so small could be so dangerous, as Miko pointed out.

But she soon learned the hard way why. As soon as the little thing in her arms woke up and looked at the bots, it changed into something Raf didn't even recognize. It went straight for Bumblebee and Raf opened her wings and jumped in front of it. As soon as it saw her, it went even crazier and started to try and get a bite at her. Bumblebee pulled her out of the way and the Scraplet dive into his arm and chewed away at his armor plating. Bee managed to swat it off and Raf took a crow bar to it, smashing it to pieces.

Once that was finished, she raced to see Bee. "I'm sorry Bumblebee!" she cried.

"**It's alright, it wasn't your fault. Are you okay?**" Bee answered as Ratchet looked at his arm.

"I'm fine, is he going to be okay?" Raf asked turning to Ratchet.

"Only a mesh wound, he'll live."

Raf sighed in relief, but what puzzled her more was why it came for her. But Bulkhead was talking and she couldn't think straight after what had just happened.

"Now do you believe me? All Scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal, especially living metal." Bulkhead said clearly as freaked out as everyone else was.

"If that's true then why would it go after Raf?" Jack asked as puzzled as Raf was.

"Yeah, Raf's not metal. Is she?" Miko said turning to her.

"She most definitely is not. What made Scraplets so dangerous is that they not only ate metal, but they also craved the taste of a Guardian. Guardians were their dessert." Ratchet said making Raf feel very scared.

"Well bug squashed, game over right?" Jack asked.

"No, when it comes to Scraplets there's never just one. And fear I know how they got in here." Ratchet said turning to the hall way.

Everyone followed Ratchet into the room where they were thawing a frozen pod they had brought back from the Arctic the day before.

"It's a trap, a Scraplet trap." Ratchet answered.

"An empty Scraplet trap." Bulkhead finished.

Everyone was very scared, Raf could feel it, she and the bots especially. If Scraplets ate metal and Guardians, then she and the bots were the ones most at risk here. Ratchet had told her to keep her wings in, as long as she did that, then the Scraplets wouldn't hurt her. Right now, she was more afraid for the bots. They couldn't hide like she could, the Scraplets only had to look at them and they would swarm them like wasps.

Ratchet tried to contact Optimus and Arcee but the com-link system was down and they couldn't evacuate because if they did, Optimus and Arcee would never make it back and they would die out there. The problem was, they Scraplets had already damaged the ground bridge and it was going to take time for Ratchet to fix it.

"Okay, so we pair off, one bot one human, or Guardian." Jack corrected. "I'll watch your back while you repair the ground bridge."

"And we go on a bug hunt." Miko said heading off with Bulkhead.

Raf went with Bee and she could see that he was just as scared as she was. But they both knew that had to keep their wits about them. The Scraplets could be anywhere and who knew how many they would encounter next time.

"Don't these things ever stop eating?" Raf asked seeing all the damage the had caused in just a few hours.

They heard a noise in one of the grates and when they looked inside, there was nothing there. No the Scraplets started coming in from behind them. Bee pulled Raf behind him and Raf did her best to keep the Scraplets off of Bee without opening her wings. But the temptation to pen them and draw them away was growing too big. She and Bee started fighting their way back to the main room only to be met with a horde of Scraplets. Jack froze them with the fire extinguisher while Raf and Miko smashed them to pieces.

"Did we get them all?"

"Hardly, these were just scouts." Ratchet said gravely.

Everyone was nerve racked and really trying to keep a clear head. Jack came up with the idea to send the Scraplets back to the Arctic and since they had to send the ground bridge there anyway for Optimus and Arcee, it wasn't a bad idea. Ratchet then figured out that the remaining cause for the ground bridge's failure was the Energon fuel line was breeched. Jack and Miko went back to fix it while Raf stayed with the bots.

"So if we get, when we get the bridge working, do we send the creepy crawlies out or bring our bots back in." Bulkhead asked.

"Optimus and Arcee will be fresh meat. If we bring them in first the Scraplets will have no reason to leave. We'll need bait." Ratchet said almost exhausted.

"Where are we going to get bait? The Scraplets already helped themselves to everything in here." Bulkhead said feeling nervous and frustrated.

Suddenly the Scraplets charged in ready to feed on all the bots in there.

"Ratchet, all systems go." Jack called running in.

"Fire it up!" Miko called.

"Ground bridge, activated." Ratchet said collapsing on the ground.

As Raf watched the Scraplets swarm and looked again at the bots exhausted and barely able to move, she knew what she had to do. She ran for the entrance of the ground bridge, opened her wings and got the Scraplets' attention.

"Come and get me!" She yelled charging through the ground bridge.

"**Raf, no!**" Bee called after her trying to go after her but Ratchet and Bulkhead held him down out of the Scraplets' sight.

Raf flew as fast as she could to avoid the Scraplets' reach. She finally made it through the vortex and saw Optimus and Arcee trudging toward her.

"Down, down!" She called landing and folding in her wings. She ducked and let the Scraplets fly over her.

When she looked up again, she saw Optimus and Arcee weak and cold, but otherwise unharmed.

"I'd invite you in, but the place is a mess." She said smiling but shaking with fear about what almost happened.

Optimus and Arcee came through and Ratchet instructed everyone to the medical bay. He talked Jack, Miko and Raf through how to help the others recover from their not so pleasant Saturday.

"**Raf, what were you thinking? You could have been killed.**" Bee asked her as she helped him with his Energon link.

"I just wanted to help and you and the others were to weak to even move, I didn't know what else to do. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She said apologizing.

"**It's alright, just promise me you'll never do anything like that ever again. We already have one adrenaline junkie here, we don't need two.**" Bee joked referring to Miko.

Raf giggled. "I promise, I won't." Raf said raising her right hand.

Raf and the others bridged home that evening after doing their best to help the bots recover. As Raf went to bed that night, she realized she had forgotten to ask Ratchet about her nightmares.

"Oh well, next time." She said as she settled down.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Optimus couldn't stop thinking about what Raf had done that day. Ratchet had told him about the stunt Raf had pulled to save them all, and he was both proud and a little frightened about what she had done.

'She is just like her mother. Full of courage and love for those closest to her. Albeit a little reckless.' He thought to himself.

In the days that followed, Optimus always kept a close watch on Rafaella when she was at the base. He couldn't help but think about all the years he had missed of her growing up and how much he wanted to make it up to her. If only he could tell her she was his daughter.

One night Optimus came into the main room and saw that everyone was gone except for Miko and Rafaella.

"Miko, Rafaella, do either of you know where the others have gone?" he asked.

"Why no sir. We do not know." Miko said a little stiff

"Miko is correct, we do not know." Raf answered the same way.

"Why would we know?"

Optimus felt that they knew something. "Raf," he pushed.

He could see Rafaella was struggling to keep a straight face.

"Alright fine, you win, Jack was challenged by a bully from our school to a race and accepted and asked Bumblebee to go with him. But now they are being chased by a Decepticon named Knockout and the others left to go back them up." Raf blurted out and finally stopped to breathe. Miko glared at her. "What, I thought I made it very clear to you guys I cannot lie to save my life."

"Raf, activate the ground bridge. We will continue this discussion later."

"Yes sir." Raf answered opening up the ground bridge to the team's location.

When everyone made it back, Optimus made sure everyone gave an explanation was given from everyone. Once explanations and repremandations were taken care of, Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee left to take Jack, Miko, and Rafaella home.

Once alone, Optimus couldn't help but smile to himself. 'And just like her mother, she is incapable of telling lies. She doesn't have the heart for it. If she cannot lie, she doesn't speak.'

The next Raf stepped aside from the others for a minute to apologize for lying to him, or tried to.

"Apology accepted, and I thank you for telling me the truth."

Raf smiled and went to play with the others. Optimus struggled to keep his smile hidden as he watched her. He wanted so badly to tell her, but he feared that her knowing would put her at even greater risk.

A few days later Optimus was on a scouting mission with Ratchet. When they arrived their location, it didn't look pretty.

"A crash landing, buried here for centuries." Optimus stated.

He and Ratchet went in to check for survivors. But what they found wasn't a promising sight, everyone onboard was dead, with pain and anguish forever etched in their faces. Optimus couldn't help but feel absolutely sick at the sight and saddened for them.

"Optimus, these Autobots didn't perish in the crash. They're displaying the effects of a virus." Ratchet said worriedly.

"This is a plague ship." Optimus deduced.

"Don't touch anything. The virus could still be active." Ratchet warned.

Suddenly the ship started to tilt and Optimus heard something above him. He looked up only to have a drop of the deceased Autobot's infected Energon drip into his optic.

"No." Ratchet gasped.

Optimus started to feel very weak, and Ratchet quickly radioed for an emergency bridge back to base and to prepare the medical bay.

Everyone was horrified to see Optimus as he was. When Ratchet performed a scan of the virus, it wasn't good.

"Cybonic plague. Contagious only if contact is made with the infected Energon." Ratchet explained.

"What was a plague ship doing here on Earth?" Miko asked with surprise in her voice.

"Its passengers were infected. The virus wiped millions on Cybertron during the great war." Arcee explained trying to keep a straight face.

"The virus was engineered in the Decepticon's warfare program, by Megatron himself." Ratchet explained darkly.

"You have a cure don't you?" Raf asked with worry in her voice.

Optimus tried to answer her, but barely had the strength to sit up. "No cure." Was all he managed to say, albeit, very weakly.

"Optimus please, save your strength." Ratchet said laying him down again.

"Would Megatron create a disease without creating a cure?" Jack asked finally speaking up. "I mean what he caught it by accident?"

"It's not like we just ask Megatron, Jack." Bulkhead answered. "He's pushing up lug nuts."

"But we may be able to access the Decepticon database. For the moment, we still have a fix on their war ship's location." Ratchet said in thought.

Arcee bridged out with Bumblebee. Optimus could feel himself getting weaker, but he could still feel his link to his daughter. He could feel she was terrified for him and for Bumblebee. He could also feel that she was confused about why she could feel what he did, like they could read each other's thoughts.

'I have to live, I have to tell her the truth.' He thought as he fought to live. It was the he heard something that made his spark jump.

"It's Megatron, he's alive." Arcee said over the com-link.

"Megatron?" Optimus rasped.

"That's not possible." Ratchet gasped.

"Well I'm staring right at him. Good news is, Megatron isn't exactly staring back. He's critical, hooked up to life support. Time to finish this." Arcee said ready to fire.

"Wait don't!" Ratchet cried.

"One good reason, fast." Arcee warned.

"Megatron may be Optimus's only hope for survival."

"What are you talking about?"

"Does he display brain wave activity?"

"Spiking hard, his sick mind still at work."

"Perfect. If a cur exists, Megatron may be the only one who knows it, you must enter his brain and find it." Ratchet instructed.

"Enter Megatron's brain! Ratchet are you out your fragging mind?" Arcee ranted.

"The Decepticon lab should contain all the equipment you need to perform a cortal psychic patch." Ratchet explained.

"No way, have you ever even performed the procedure?" Arcee asked clearly freaked out about what Ratchet was asking of them.

"No." Was all he could say. "But I have thoroughly studied the theoretical literature. Invented by Decepticons, outlawed by Autobots."

"Whoa, can't we just haul Megatron through the ground bridge buy us some time while we try to figure this out?"

"Time is one thing Optimus does not have. One of you must try this. I will not allow Optimus to pass knowing that Megatron will outlive him."

"Ratchet I would lay down my life for Optimus anytime, anywhere. But a mind body split," Arcee wanted to reason but was cut off by Bumblebee.

"**Don't worry, I'll do it.**" Bumblebee volunteered.

"Are you sure Bumblebee?" Raf asked with concern in her voice.

"Bee's the best scout there is." Bulkhead reassured her.

Optimus could feel the fear inside her, she didn't want to lose him or Optimus. In truth, neither did he, he didn't want to lose anyone else like they lost Cliffjumper. Especially to something as dangerous as a cortal psychic patch. But right now he was in no condition to stop them. He could feel himself slipping away.

Optimus focused his energy on trying to fight to stay alive but was snapped awake when he heard Raf gasp in surprise.

He weakly looked and saw Jaderinica in the vision of the patch. He saw that Rafaella really did look just like her mother. He felt his spark give a weak swell seeing the Guardian he loved again, even if she wasn't real. But was brought back when he heard Raf say that that was the woman she had been seeing in her dreams. Now Optimus knew she deserved to know the truth. Ratchet looked at him and Optimus nodded telling him it was time she knew.

"That is Jaderinica. She was the last queen before her murder and the end of the war on Cybertron. Her name meant compassion and strength." Ratchet explained.

"Okay, but who is she, why have I been seeing her in my dreams? How could I know her? I never even met her." Raf asked feeling very scared.

"Jaderinica was Optimus's bonded, his wife, if you will. And she was your mother." Ratchet said turning to Rafaella.

Optimus could feel Raf's emotions going into a spiral and that she very confused. The others had the same confusing written in their faces. But there would be time for that later. Right now Bumblebee was trying to convince Megatron to give him to formula that would save Optimus's life.

Bumblebee played his cards well, Megatron showed him the formula and Ratchet reviewed the footage and ordered Arcee to disconnect Bumblebee. Arcee and Bumblebee made it back and Ratchet got right to work on the cure. Once it was ready, Optimus was given the cure and gradually gained his strength back. He was still very weak, but thankful to be alive. Everyone was so happy that he was alive, but they were still even more confused now knowing that Rafaella was his daughter.

But the explanation would have to wait until he got his strength back. For now, just knowing that now that she knew was all that Optimus needed to rest easy.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Raf was happy that Optimus was alive but her mind was still in whirl hearing that Optimus was her father. And she wasn't the only one. The only one who seemed to be calm about it was Ratchet, of course he knew the whole time. But everyone else was finding it hard to believe too.

"So Raf is like a half Autobot?" Miko said starring at her like she was expecting her to transform or something.

"Miko, starring at her isn't going to make anything happen. Raf may be Optimus's kid but that doesn't mean that she is going to change like we can." Arcee said coming to her rescue, much to Raf's relief.

"I just can't believe it. All this time wondering who my parents were, where I came from and he never told me." Raf said rubbing her head.

"Optimus sent you here to keep you safe after Jaderinica was killed. And he never told you until now because he feared that telling you the truth would scare you away and that it would out you at even greater risk." Ratchet explained keeping a close watch on Optimus's vitals while he was in power down. "He never meant to hurt you Rafaella, he was trying to protect you. He wanted to tell you, believe me he did, but he thought that as long as you remained in the dark about who you were, you would be safe."

"I can understand that, I just wish I would have known anyway. I have always wondered why I was left in those woods all those years ago, I had always feared that my birth parents had abandoned me because they didn't want me. But knowing that my father did what he did protect me, it makes me feel guilty knowing I felt that way for so long."

"**It's okay, you know now, so there is no reason to feel guilty about what you thought. You were barely even a year old when you came here so it was probably inevitable that you would feel the way you have all these years.**" Bee said kneeling near her putting his hand on her shoulder. "**You and Optimus have a chance to be a family now and I know you want to make that happen now. I'm sure he would like nothing better than to have the chance to be your father, but it is up to you to give him that chance.**"

"I know and I do, I just wonder, can I be the daughter that he no doubt hoped I would be." Raf said still unsure about all this.

"You already are Rafaella. He has told me before when he first saw how well you had grown up here on Earth, he couldn't have been more proud." Ratchet said. "I'm sure your mother would be too."

"Thanks guys."

"Look guys this is great and all, but what do we do now? If the 'cons find out she's Optimus's daughter who knows what they will do if they get their claws on her." Bulkhead said stepping in.

"He's right. After seeing the 'cons in action, I doubt they will be very gentle with her if they find out." Jack backed up.

"**Well then I guess we will have to keep her secret.**" Bumblebee said letting her up on his hand.

"Speaking of secrets, I think I'd better get home before my parents start to wonder where I am." Raf said straightening her glasses.

"Me, my mom is not really easy to lie to." Jack said getting up.

Everyone went home that night still a little baffled, but after everything they had seen, it hardly surprised them anymore. Raf went to bed that night still finding it hard to believe that Optimus was her father, but very relieved that she now knew. For the first time in a long time, she slept easier that night. No nightmares, no memories, and no scary visions. It was a peaceful night, and a good feeling to sleep so soundly again.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Bumblebee was in awe while he watched over Raf's home that night. Now he felt an even stronger drive to keep Raf safe. Not only was he protecting his friend, but he was also protecting the heir to the Guardian throne and his leader's daughter. But there other things on his mind.

Ever since he was disconnected from Megatron's mind, he had been feeling this pull in the back of his mind, like there was someone else there.

"_So that little one is Optimus Prime's daughter, how intriguing._" He heard someone whisper inside his head.

Bumblebee looked around but found no one and dismissed it as a thought he probably never meant to have. But it still made him feel uneasy to know that he could possibly hearing voices, mostly because it sounded like someone he would really rather forget. The night passed quickly and Raf snapped Bee out of his disturbed thoughts.

"Bee, are you okay? You didn't rev your engine to wake me up this morning. Is something wrong?" Raf asked buckling in.

"**No nothing's wrong, I was just a little shaken from my mission inside Megatron's head. I never thought I'd get so up close and personal with the con's leader. Kind of scary you know.**"

"I know. I don't know what was scarier, seeing you inside Megatron's head, or learning that Optimus was my father." Raf said as Bee drove toward the school.

"**How is that scary? I thought you would be happy to find out who your birth parents were.**"

"I am, it's not knowing that Optimus is my father, what's scary is trying to live up to the image of being the daughter of someone like him. He has done so much for this planet and for humanity. I'm just a girl with wings nobody but my human parents know about and nobody even wants to be with at school, apart from Jack and Miko." Raf said sounding down on herself.

"**You are living up to that image. You are the most amazing girl I have ever met. You are smart, brave, you're pretty…**" Bee said and cut himself off.

"You think I'm pretty?" Raf asked blushing.

"**Well, of course you're pretty. I just well, I uh, I don't know what to say anymore. Why am I still talking? I am such a spaz.**" Bumblebee stuttered.

"It's alright. I mean, I just never thought of myself as pretty. Most of the people I ever met never really thought of me that way."

"**Well then those people have no idea who they are hurting. They have no idea what an amazing person you are. You are a genius with just about anything you come across, you understand everyone around you, you are willing to do what is right no matter if you get in trouble. You have the kindest heart of any one I have ever met.**" Bee now felt really uncomfortable. "**Why am I still talking? I am so sorry if I am making you uncomfortable.**"

"It's alright, I am sorry if I sounded a little dramatic." Raf said sounding like she was trying to calm down.

"**You weren't. I completely understand why you would feel that way.**" Bee said trying to cover up his uncomfortable.

Bee and Raf found other things to talk about to cover up their uncomfortable feelings. When Bee dropped Raf off, he drove back to the base. While he drove, he felt like someone or something was trying to get in his head, like they were trying to take control. But he didn't have time to think about it because as soon he got to base he waited for Optimus woke up. As soon as he was up, Ratchet guided him to the chamber and performed a few more examinations before clearing Optimus.

"I wouldn't advise anything strenuous Optimus but it would appear that your systems have fully recovered from the Cybonic plague."

"Thanks to your medical expertise old friend."

"It was your scout who braved unknown territory to locate the cure." Ratchet said turning to Bumblebee.

"**It was nothing really.**" Bumblebee said.

"Lucky for us Megatron was still alive." Arcee spoke up.

"**Whoa, you actually said that?**"

"Yeah, I actually said that."

Bumblebee then felt a twinge and walked off. He was still in his mind, but he felt someone else was too.

"_It is only a matter of time before Optimus discovers all is not right with you, Scout._" The voice said again. "_I must reclaim my body, which means taking complete and total control of yours._" Be swore he could see Megatron's face, but only dismissed it as a waking nightmare.

"Nothing to worry about, I hope." He thought to himself.

Later that day, Bee and the others brought Raf, Miko and Jack to the base as usual. Miko was introducing them to basketball and the bots picked up on it pretty well. It was pretty fun, until Bee had a vision of the spacebridge explosion. In a moment of panic he threw the ball toward Bulkhead.

"Bee, hoops over there." Bulkhead said shaking Bee from his dream.

"Bee, you okay?" Raf asked.

"**I'm fine, how about three out of five?**"

"Yeah, three out of five."

While the others were settling down later that evening, Bee went for a walk in the back of the silo to clear his head. He felt the twinge again.

"_If I am to reclaim my body, I must first restore its functionality. How did I escape annulation?_" Bee could had another dream. This one, something he had never seen before. "_Of course, dark Energon._" Bee saw Starscream smirking at him, or was it him? "_Starscream._" The voice growled.

When he came back to reality, he went back to the main room and allowed Raf inside.

"Bee, are you sure you're okay? You've been kind of distant today." Raf asked on the way home.

"**Yeah, I guess I'm still a little out of it. I'll be better tomorrow, I promise.**" Bee said as he drove up to the house. "**See you tomorrow?**"

"See you then." Raf said turning toward the door.

"_Tell me, Scout, what is that little one to you? Does she really mean that much to you?"_ He heard again.

He wanted to say it was none of his business, but who would he be telling it to. Besides, he himself wasn't sure what Raf meant to him. Obviously, he really cared about her, he was just confused about what his true feelings were.

"Why do I feel this way? Sure she is the most amazing girl I have met, but I have only known her for a couple of months. So why is it so hard to know what she really is to me? I haven't felt this way since… since Monarch." Bee thought to himself. "Am I falling in love with her?"

Bumblebee went for a drive and then drove back to base when it was really late. He just needed some time to think was what he told himself. But at the base things didn't get any easier. He was walking in the main room when he felt the twinge again and suddenly he felt himself moving against his will.

"_Yes, go on Scout. Obey my will._" Bee crushed the light in his hand.

"Bumblebee!" Bee heard Ratchet yell from behind him dragging him back to reality. "I needed that."

"**Ratchet, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to I…**"

"What has gotten into you?"

"**I don't know. I keep seeing Megatron's face and getting these strange visions.**"

"You're seeing Megatron's face?"

Ratchet then ran a diagnostics scan and placed Bumblebee in power down. The last thing Bee saw was Raf looking up at him very worried. Everything else then went blank.

Next thing Bumblebee knew, he was being pulled toward the ground bridge. He fought for control but couldn't pull through. When he saw what was happening he now knew what was going on, Megatron was inside his head and using him like a puppet. He was now more determined than ever to gain control. But he felt that Megatron's grip was too firm. Megatron had what he was looking for and there was no stopping him.

Inside his body, Megatron walked Bee back through the ground bridge back to base. Punching Ratchet and walking toward Raf.

"**No! Do not hurt her, do whatever you want with me but do not hurt her!**" Bee fought and for a second gained control long enough to put Raf in a safe place.

He could hear Raf calling him but lost touch with reality again. The next time he felt anything he heard Raf calling him.

"Bumblebee no! Remember who you are, remember me. I know you always listen to me no matter what."

Bumblebee pulled through the haze covering his thoughts. "**Rafaella?**"

"That's right Bee, it's me." Raf answered smiling at him.

Bee was relieved to see her. But he felt someone pushing him away, the harder he pushed the more he felt Megatron probe deeper into his thoughts and worse still, his feelings for Raf.

"_Unbelievable! You actually think you have a chance with her? Don't make me laugh._" Megatron sneered pushing Bee back and taking control again.

"Bumblebee!" He heard Raf call again, but this time he could do anything.

Next thing he knew, he was standing in front of the Decepticon leader, staggering back out of the way. The cons engaged them, but Bee held them back while Ratchet got Raf to safety.

Once they were back at the base, Ratchet checked Bee over again.

"**Raf, I am so sorry.**"

"It's okay."

"**Weren't you scared?**"

"Of course I was."

"**I'm just glad you're alright.**"

"I know."

"**Thanks for coming through to me Raf, you really helped me.**"

That night Bee stayed at the house and watched Raf as she fell asleep. He knew how he felt about her, and he knew that there may not be a chance for her and him, but that didn't change how he felt about her. He vowed he would protect her and help her any way he could whenever she needed him. He loved her and that would never change.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Raf and Bumblebee talked a lot about what happened with Megatron over the next couple of weeks and even more after she and the other kids got stuck in the shadow zone. Bumblebee was really scared when she was trapped there and he told her as much.

"I'm alright Bee, I promise. A little shaken, but otherwise okay." Raf would assure him.

During those couple of weeks, Ratchet and Optimus had revealed to Raf that she was close to coming of age to learn how to control her powers.

"Powers? What powers?" she had asked.

"When a Guardian reaches the age of fourteen, they begin to develop their own powers. Though, most Guardians only have one, aside from those who are from the royal family line, particularly the heir to the throne." Ratchet began to explain.

"Members of the royal family have countless powers, only they themselves know how many. However, normally the princess is trained by the queen to control her powers. But with your mother no longer with us, Ratchet and I will be the ones to train you." Optimus explained to her.

"How will you know when it's time?" Raf asked feeling very nervous. To her it was hard enough trying to hide large white wings, but how was she going to be able to hide something like her powers that she knew nothing about until now.

"A young Guardians powers usually start to appear the day of their fourteenth birthday. So, on that day, I think it would be best if you stayed here." Optimus explained.

"But, I promised my parents that I would be there to celebrate my birthday with them. What am I going to do?" Raf asked almost begging to panic.

"If you wish to celebrate with your family, just simply keep yourself well aware of any changes or occurrences that may happen that day, and the following day, you will remain here to begin your training on how to control your powers." Optimus told her.

"How will I know?"

"When a Guardian's powers begin to appear, you may feel a strong surge course through your wings and find it more difficult to hold them in. If that happens, contact base immediately." Ratchet instructed her. "How long do we have before your birthday?"

"A couple of weeks." Raf answered now not so sure if she wanted to celebrate it at all anymore.

If Ratchet and Optimus was tell her was true then she was really going to have a hard time on her birthday. Thankfully Bumblebee was right there for emotional support.

"**Don't worry Raf. You're going to have an awesome fourteenth birthday and I know you will be able to keep them under control.**" He told her putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I hope so. I'm just glad my birthday is on a Friday this year, because then I don't have to explain to my parents where I go. They pretty much think that I have found a new social group to join and now spend most of my time with them. Which in retrospect, I kind of do." Raf said looking up at him feeling a little better but still really nervous about her birthday now.

But she felt it in herself that she could keep her oncoming powers under wraps until the day after. She would just have to focus on everything else and not worry so much.

The next couple of days, Ratchet and Optimus taught her how to keep her powers under control until she was ready. Raf was struggling with it but she soon made great progress when she found that all she had to do was think about all those she wanted to protect, and that to protect them she would have to keep her powers hidden. It did help a great deal but she was still afraid if her wings would pop out in the middle of everything. She thought she could just tighten a belt around her back to tie them down until she was ready, but Ratchet and Optimus told that doing so would only injure her wings and that the best way was to keep her powers concealed until her training.

Jack and Miko still didn't know about her powers and she wanted to keep that way until she knew what they would be and how to control them. Although, keeping it a secret from them wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. This had been on her mind so much she almost blurted it out once or twice. Thank goodness she was able to cover it up, but she was still nervous about her birthday, even with Bumblebee's reassurance that she would be alright.

That night her parents asked her where she would like to go. Raf saw this as a chance to go where Bee could keep an eye on her and she would feel more comfortable knowing he was there.

"How about that picnic pavilion in the park." Raf said.

"Sounds boring." Raf's older sister Trina said toying with her food. "Why not go to the karaoke diner, or the Gorilla club?"

"Trina, this is about Raf's birthday, not you. And I think a pavilion picnic party would be awesome. Open skies, we could do it all, you know, like we did when she was a kid." Her older brother Seth said patting her back.

"Yes, and the park would be the perfect place to let all the younger siblings run around and have fun." Palaura said rubbing one of the younger kids' heads while they sat in their highchair.

"Sounds like a wonderful idea." Chief Rodriguez said looking at his wife.

"Yes, and open play day party. That sounds good Raf. Do you have any friends from school you would like to invite?" Angelica said taking a bite of her fajita.

"Yes, two actually, Jack Darby and Miko Nakadai." Raf answered.

"Sounds good. I'll make the invitations, they're going to look tots adorable." Raf's other older sister Elena said beaming.

"Thanks Elena." Raf said playing with her food. To tell the truth she wasn't feeling that hungry.

"Something wrong sweet heart?" Angelica asked. "You haven't touched your food."

"I'm fine Mom. I'm just not feeling that hungry right now. I just have a lot on my mind right now." Raf said getting up. "I'm going to get ready for bed."

"Okay, well, have a good night's sleep.'' Chief Rodriguez said as Raf left the room.

Raf did sleep well that night but she was still worried about her birthday. It was only a week and four days away and Raf wasn't sure if she was ready for it yet. Especially with her powers on the verge of appearing and her worried that they might pop out at the last second. But she had to hold on, just long enough until she could get to the base the day after.

"I can do this, I can do this." She kept telling herself. "Just remember everything they taught you and you'll be fine."


End file.
